Confessions of a Holiday Card Shredder

Yesterday was Epiphany, "a Christian festival, observed on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi."  I also recently learned that many people keep their holiday decorations up until January 6th in celebration of Epiphany.  I took my indoor decorations down last weekend, but the wreath & lights remain, most likely to be taken down tomorrow.  I like the idea of Epiphany & working more meaning into the holidays rather than focusing on the commercialism of it all, and I think we'll start this tradition in our family.  Besides the wreath & lights, I also have a huge pile of holiday cards on my kitchen counter.  Every year I add a page to our family Christmas photo card scrapbook with our own photo.  It's fun to see how we have changed each year & will be so special to look back on as the kids grow up.  I have to confess though, with a bit of guilt, that I shred everyone else's cards.  I just don't have room or time to keep them all.  So I'm sorry if you're reading this and sent us a card, and now have visions of your beautiful family's face going into the shredder.  :( I do take the time to sit down and look at everyone's picture and messages one last time.  As I do this I say a prayer for each family for them to have health, peace & prosperity in the New Year.  For those who have a bit more time on their hands, I've also heard of people creating photo albums or scrapbooks to keep all of these photos in every year, which would be another lovely option.  
I try to go green whenever possible.  I just googled if photo paper could be recycled, and am quite disappointed that it cannot be.  The majority of the cards we got are on photo paper.  I saw a suggestion from a post online that you could cut the decorations off the cards & use them for kids crafts & scrapbooking.  I love scrapbooking, but have not had the time lately, and my kids are a little too young for this type of craft, so unfortunately this year the shreds go in the trash, with the exception of a few paper cards which I'll recycle.  This also makes me re-think our card option for 2011.  I had planned on going through Costco again, which had a deal where you get 50 photo cards plus a bonus 4 photo calendar cards for $14.99.  The lady at the photo center also informed me that if you plan ahead & do your pictures in November, they usually have a $5 off coupon, which means you'd get this deal for $10.99!  Wow that would fit our budget & be awesome for my resolution of living frugally in 2011!  But, it's not the most environmentally friendly option.  Photo cards done through Send Out Cards, Tiny Prints, Shutterfly, or other retailers that indicate cardstock or paper would be great viable options if you've got some extra cash & want the environmentally friendly option.  I'll re-evaluate which path we'll take come Fall :).  So, this afternoon I am praying for many families whom have blessed our lives & getting rid of some clutter in the process.  

Please share your ideas & what you do with holiday cards!  (And please reassure me I am not the only one who ends up throwing them away!)