Family Tree

Donna Logan uses holiday cards to connect with loved ones all year long

At Donna Logan’s house, holiday cards don’t go in the trash. For more than 10 years, the Evansville resident puts the cards her family receives to good use.

She adorns one of the nine Christ- mas trees she puts up with holiday cards from friends and family. It is now a beloved tradition.

“We used to put cards in a basket on the kitchen table and look at them throughout the year,” Logan says. “I saw someone’s little tree with cards around the bottom and thought, ‘I could put cards ON the tree.’ The first year I did that, I thought it was really cool.”

Today, the seven-foot-tall potted tree stands year-round, cards dangling off its branches. The decorations remain until November when new cards begin to arrive. Logan punches holes in the cards, threads a ribbon through them, and hangs them on the tree. The tradition is so popular, some loved ones send their cards pre-hole-punched and ribboned.

She says she always hangs the cards of people close to her family. No matter who they are from, every card must feature a photo of the senders. Logan typically gets around 180 cards, and between 100 and 140 go on the tree.

“There are people we don’t see very often, and I see them on the tree,” she says.

Logan finishes decorating the tree by January. Still, since the card tree stands year-round, she sometimes adds loved ones’ cards from holidays like Valentine’s Day. For Logan, the Christmas card tree helps keep the people she loves close. The tradition embodies a genuine holiday spirit.

“I want to see their family and how they’ve grown or what they’ve done through the year. Pets absolutely count,” she says.

PHOTO BY ZACH STRAW

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Maggie Valenti
Maggie Valenti
Maggie Valenti joined Tucker Publishing Group in September 2022 as a staff writer. She graduated from Gettysburg College in 2020 with a bachelors degree in English. A Connecticut native, Maggie has ridden horses for 15 years and has hunt seat competition experience on the East Coast.

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