A sheet of letter paper with a double ruled frame and a row of motifs along the top and the bottom inside it. Twenty three ruled writing lines fill the space between them. Six borders are on the design list: holly, stars, snowflakes, candy stripes, scallop and trees, drawn from the same set of motifs as the gift tags.
Ruled or plain
The lines control switches between Ruled and Plain. Ruled gives twenty three lines across the full width inside the frame, spaced for ordinary adult handwriting and comfortable for a child of about seven upwards.
Plain prints the frame and the motifs and leaves everything between them empty. That is the version for a drawing, a recipe written out by hand, a poem, a list to go in a hamper, or anybody who writes straight without help.
The six borders
Holly is the one it opens on: a row of fourteen sprigs, seven across the top and seven along the bottom, drawn in grey line work. Trees, stars and snowflakes work the same way with a different motif, and candy stripes and scallop run a repeating edge instead.
Everything is drawn in a light grey rather than black, which is the reason the sheet still reads as stationery once it has writing on it. A heavy black border fights the handwriting, and most printable writing paper gets that wrong.
What it is used for
- Letters to Santa for an older child who wants to write properly rather than fill in a form.
- Thank you letters after Christmas, which is the job this sheet gets used for most in January.
- A note tucked into a hamper or a tin, cut down to size.
- Carol sheets, menus and place settings written by hand for a table.
- A school writing task where the paper is the thing that makes a child take care.
Questions
- How many lines are on the Christmas writing paper?
- Twenty three ruled lines inside the border, spaced for ordinary handwriting. The lines control also has a Plain setting, which prints the frame and motifs with nothing between them.
- Can I choose the border?
- Yes. Six designs are on the list above the sheet: holly, stars, snowflakes, candy stripes, scallop and trees. The traditional gift tags use the holly motif and the Scandinavian ones use the trees, so a sheet can be matched to either.
- Is the border dark enough to see but light enough to write over?
- It is drawn in grey line work rather than solid black, which keeps it visible without competing with handwriting. That is also why it uses very little ink even across a batch of sheets.
- Will it work for a letter to Santa?
- Yes, and it is the right sheet for an older child who wants a blank page rather than prompts. The letter to Santa templates are the better choice for younger children, since they guide what to write.