Let's talk about Christmas cards...

It's the time of year when we begin asking ourselves what to do about the annual Christmas card.  Should we get boxed cards, write a Christmas letter or take a Christmas photo and paste it inside a card?  Decisions, decisions....

Personally I like to take as much of the work out of it as possible!  If you are like me then can I be bold and suggest an idea to you?  Shutterfly!  Have you used Shutterfly before?  If not, now is definitely the time to try it out.  I use Shutterfly for anything I want to look really nice.  I have used it for countless cards and photobooks.  I posted one of my favorite projects recently and I wanted to share the Christmas card we designed for our first married Christmas as well but it has been discontinued so I cannot post a link to it - boo!  It was cute though!

So, I'd like to show you a few designs that I think are worthy of your consideration -

For those who cannot decide between doing a Christmas card or Christmas letter -

there is a hybrid available!

For those who want to share about their family but not in letter format,

here's a very playful option

For those with larger families,

here is one that spotlights each member

Shutterfly also has a selection of faith-based cards but honestly,

you can make most any of their cards reflect your beliefs

because of the personalization each one offers.

So, as you can see there is something for everyone at Shutterfly - that's why I love it so!  AND, if you have a blog there is an opportunity here to get 50 free holiday cards for yourself (hence the reason I am posting this entire blog about Shutterfly's holiday cards though seriously, I do love them and would use them even if there were no free cards!)

I am looking forward to designing mine soon.  I am always excited to get my products in the mail - Shutterfly photo cards and books ook so professional!  So, check Shutterfly out and see what you think! 

Can you believe it is December?

I am flabbergasted to realize that the year is almost over and in a few weeks my baby girl will be 6 months old!  People tell new moms all the time "it goes fast" or "she'll be crawling before you know it".  Well, I can tell you that in the throes of PPD it went slow as molasses and I prayed daily for time to speed up!  Looking back now I realize it did go fast and what seemed like an eternity was just a breath.  It's very healing to have a different perspective now, almost 6 months later, and realize that period didn't last forever and God did see me through.  He is so very faithful!

So, lo and behold Christmas is just around the corner.  Do I have a tree up?  No.  Do I have a stocking for Olivia?  No.  Do I have a plan?  No.  In short, this mama is way behind!  The only thing I can proudly claim is that most of my Christmas shopping is done.  That is a first for me - normally I wait til the last minute because I haven't made it a priority but this year I had an idea and ordered a variation of it for almost everyone on my list which made things rather simple.  I have a large extended family that I like to do a homemade project for each year and just this week I settled on what I'm going to do for that so I'm well on my way to being completely done with the gifts but I have no tree to put them under!  Oh well, I'm not overly worried about it.  Olivia will see plenty of trees and lights even if they are not at her own house! 

I did put up the adorable Little People Nativity Set I got last year when I knew I was pregnant and would want my baby to have his/her very own nativity set.  One of my childhood memories is of having a small tree of my own in my room each year.  I'd like to do that with Olivia but using the nativity scene so I can incorporate the real meaning of Christmas into her bedtime routine as she grows up.

One of the things we also have not done yet is take a Christmas picture for our Christmas cards.  We have had a Christmas dress for Olivia for a while but just have not had a chance to get a photo.  Mark ordered us a new NICE camera this week so we'll probably wait til it arrives to take our photo.  I'm just hoping and praying we get it done in time for me to create and order our cards!  And speaking of that, I'm going to write a whole separate blog post regarding the use of Shutterfly for your Christmas cards so stay tuned!