Thinking about sending out Christmas cards? Read this first!

     We love receiving Christmas cards! In fact, we love them so much that we literally leave them up all year, and replace them the following year when we get an updated picture. There is, however, one thing that I hate: terrible grammar, punctuation, and usage. Here are a few tips for your cards:

1. Please capitalize your last name. 
 I know that stylistically it can be fun to change up the look, but it's just incorrect. Unless you are trying to make a significant statement (i.e. poet bell hooks), please use correct capitalization.

2. Use a comma after a greeting or closing! "Warmest wishes," "Wishing you a merry Christmas," and "Sent with love" are all phrases (not complete sentences) and therefore require that they are followed by a comma and then your signature. If you do use a complete sentence, then you may substitute a period or exclamation point, but let's be honest, no one writes, "We hope that you have a merry Christmas!" as a closing. 

3. For the love of all that is good, learn when to use an apostrophe (comma to the top).
An apostrophe signifies ownership. This is Bob's dog. Adding the letter s or es signifies more than one. There are three Bobs in the room. Let's apply this to our cards:

Correct:                         Correct:                         Correct:                     

With love,                      With love,                      With love,

The Smiths                    The Smith family            John Smith's Family 

Incorrect:                      Incorrect:                       Incorrect: 

With love,                      With love,                      With love,

The Smith's                   The Smith's family          The Smiths'

Sincerely, 

The English teacher in me