Christmas cards… eek. When I first had kids, I enjoyed taking them to get a Christmas picture taking and using those pictures for cards. After a few years, my budget got tighter and I found less time to schedule picture sessions, so I started taking the picture myself and ordering cards online. That worked well and I actually ended up with some decent pictures. Some years were better than others, of course, and the kids were more cooperative some times than others.
This year, I got a good head start on the pictures, but I was underwhelmed by how they turned out. The boys were in a strange mood that day, and my vision of a nice downtown background turned out kind of dismal looking. I tried and tried to tuck those pictures into an online template and nothing quite worked. I haven’t found time to take more pictures, either.
So this will be the year that I kind of miss the picture cards. I like looking back at the pictures for each year, so I’m kind of bummed. But not bummed enough to stress myself out over it. I have a stash of regular store cards that are cute, so I’ll use those this year. That way I’m saving a bit of money, too. I have school pictures that I can enclose for the relatives I know expect pictures.
This is a good example of letting go at Christmas – we can’t do it all every single year – some years we have to let go of certain things. This year it’s the cards. On the fun side, I’m going to have my kids sign each card themselves – because everyone writes their name quite nicely now!
(2 pictures tonight. The daily picture of cuteness at the top of the post, and the Christmas card picture that wasn’t below.)
