When I was working at a Middle School, I had a lot of kids working on telling what happened in a sequential and concise manner. Old Christmas cards that had a lot happening in the picture was a great way to get these kids talking. They would have to look at the picture and say something like, "On a snowy day, the kids decided to go sledding." If your child is supposed to elaborate, then they could make up more to the story. For instance, "After they finished sledding, they decided to go to Jimmy's house for some hot chocolate." If you want your child to then practice writing the story, then you can start to make a Christmas card book! You could put the picture of the Christmas card on a page and have him/her write the story below it. Sometimes it is easier for the kids to correct their grammatical errors if they see it written rather than saying it. Also, have them use a dictionary (not an online one, but an actual dictionary book) to lookup the spelling of a word. That is a skill that is so important that kids don't get a lot ofCompile them together in a folder with brads and then he/she has something to show his/her speech teacher at school!
Another fun thing to do with the Christmas cards is to come up with what could be written on the inside. Cards can be serious, funny, or to-the-point. Let your kids come up with what should be written on the inside. If you save the other sides, then it would be neat to see how what they come up with compares to what the Christmas card writers created. If there's a Rudolph on the front of the card, maybe your child would come up with, "Let it glow! Let it glow! Let it glow! Merry Christmas!" Again, you could come up with a whole book of Christmas card insides!!