How do famous artists celebrate the holidays? The Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art is taking an intimate look into the personal lives of artists and their holiday correspondence with an exhibition of handmade holiday cards from Josef Albers, Ad Reinhardt, Alexander Calder (above), Milton Avery, Claes Oldernburg, and more.

Sixty one-of-a-kind and limited edition prints serve as a retrospective of holiday cheer, covering a range of decades, styles and movements. A 1971 card from Yoko Ono and John Lennon to Joseph Cornell offers a strong political sentiment (as well as a quick, whimsical drawing of the couple), while Richard Tuttle takes the traditional route with a religious passage inscribed inside a characteristically subtle, two-toned abstract print.

The flattened Brillo box (brandishing a quick note and handprint on the back) fromMike Bidlo to Leo Castelli proves that it’s the thought that counts, and Dan Flavin’s minimalistic card to Andrew Bucci features nothing more than a red star burst and a stamp reading “OK.” Other artists represented in the show include Robert Indiana, Robert Motherwell, and Ray Johnson.

“Handmade Holiday Cards from the Archives of American Art” will be on view from November 27 through January 5, 2014, at the Smithsonian’s Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture. Visitors can join artist Ed Bisese for a workshop where they make their own ready-to-send cards on December 1.