Ever since my first Christmas in my own home I've been saving the photos from my Christmas letters. I have always cut out the photos, made a bunch of mini collages and stuck them up on my refrigerator where they sit until the next year and I replace them all again. I love doing this, I love seeing the faces of my family and friends all year long. I love showing the kids the different faces and having them get to know their family via these photos. But this last year? The refrigerator became too crowded. Between the photo collages, my shopping lists, piles and piles of the kids artwork, (Let's face reality, I'm throwing masterpieces away on a weekly basis and my fridge is still covered in art.) and other miscellaneous items my refrigerator had no room and when you'd open it up things would come flying down which was driving everyone crazy.

This year I decided it was time to remove the photos from my refrigerator and instead I found a nice 15 x 19 frame where I could make a gigantic collage. (I had about 40 cards to fit onto the frame and guessed a size that thankfully worked out. A cousin of mine liked my idea but when she did it she used two smaller frames and separated them out, this too turned out cute!)

It takes about an hour and a half for me to do this. I simply cut out one or two photos from the card, and I prefer a whole family photo if it's possible which helps in narrowing down my choice! It took a while to place all the photos but once that was done the most time consuming part was taking it all down to tape everything in place. That was excruciatingly slow for me, but I'm also impatient when it comes to the last step so I wasn't too surprised to see how annoyed I was. After that I just had to rearrange some photos on my wall to make room for my new picture frame(s). (I will also be adding Randy and Ashley's wedding photo to that empty frame hanging on the wall.)

I wanted it lower to the ground where my kids could see it but not easily touch it. We've had a few photos ripped off the wall by grabby hands so I'm being proactive. (My photo project here? Yeah, drives me crazy how many times they've yanked some of them off the wall.) I figured I'd show off my handy work, I mean a bunch of you that read my blog regularly also send me a Christmas card with a photo. Kind of nice to see you hanging out in my living room, isn't it?

And yes, next year, I'll take it down and replace it with my new photos. An hour and a half of work once a year is not a big deal to me, especially when the outcome is getting to see my family and friends year round!