Praying over Christmas cards

We kicked off what has become a really nice holiday tradition last night. We got this idea from a former parishioner of mine whose family saved all their Christmas cards and then prayed for a person/family every day after Christmas until they ran out of cards.

It's nice for many reasons, including, of course, that it's always a good thing to pray for people and it gives our kids a sense of what petitionary/intercessory prayer is and isn't. In the midst of receiving these cards, of course, I rarely take the time to really sit down with the cards and this gives me a chance to read through them and give thanks for a wide array of people and organizations...including those we barely know!