FOSTERING COMMUNITY THROUGH THE ART OF BEAUTIFUL WRITING

NEXT MEETING PROGRAM: DECEMBER 20, 2025 | 9:30 AM

A Short History of Christmas in America—and Christmas Cards

Presenter: Penne R.
Holiday Card Exchange following presentation

Our December program will be presented by member Penne R., who holds a doctorate in History. She wrote A History of Christmas in America, and taught various U.S. history courses at UT for many years. Join us as we dive into the origins of this special holiday, including the ubiquitous Christmas card, as it has come to be celebrated in the United States.  

Annual Holiday Card Exchange 

In addition, we will have our annual Holiday Card Exchange. If you bring a card, you get to take another home with you. It does need to be a handmade card, but can be simply one of the following: Calligraphy, collage, watercolor, sketching, marbled or paste-paper, quilling, pop-ups . . . however your current artistic passion motivates you.  

Also, the theme of the card can be Christmas, Hanukkah, St. Nicholas Day, the New Year, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, the winter season . . . Don’t forget Ugly Sweater Day (this year, on Dec. 19) as well as Festivus  (Dec. 23), if you’re more humorously inclined.   

Please place your card in a sealed, unmarked envelope, to be dropped in a box upon entering the meeting room. Later, those envelopes will be laid out on a table, after which each participant’s name will be drawn, to “blindly” make their choice. (The card itself does not need to be anonymous, of course. Indeed, please do sign  your card somewhere.)