It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas Card Time

I spend an awful lot of time thinking about Christmas cards -- way more time, really, than anyone ought to. Ask my husband; he'll tell you. Probably the one thing at Christmas time that I agonize over the most is my cards. (Okay, and maybe the tree. And coordinating my gift-wrap. But we'll save that for another day.) Let's not even get into the fact that I don't even technically send out "Christmas" cards, but holiday cards, which gets me into trouble with at least half a dozen relatives every year. (Yes, I am aware that I am a lunatic.)

If you've ever gotten a card from me, then you already know what kinds of cards I tend to favor: semi-generic winterish scenes, usually featuring some kind of nature (pine cones, snowflakes, vaguely Scandinavian wildlife), generally in pastel shades. Quiet and serene. Very Robert Frost-y, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"-y. I like faded blues and purples and silvers, and of course sparkles or glitter score double secret bonus points. It's almost impossible to find holiday cards that are blank, so I go with the least offensive sentiment inside (Season's Greetings, or Happy Holidays, or what have you).

But now I have a kid, and she has changed the holidays for me. For serious. Christmas is different once you have a little one (cliché, I know, but true). I still want to send out the least-specific cards I possibly can (because some people on my list celebrate other holidays besides Christmas, and I want to wish them well, too), but now I want the cards to be colorful and bright and cheerful, exciting rather than soothing, and I want them to have a picture of Shae on them because she's the most perfect and beautiful kid that I know. So I'm doing photo holiday cards again this year.

I've gotten cards from Shutterfly before, and even though they don't usually come with as much glitter as I tend to like, they're still really nice cards. I think the Valentine's cards that we sent out to our family back in February came out really great. But even those were pretty sedate. Lovely, but definitely quieter than my life normally is. So I made a deal with myself when I started thinking about this -- well, more like an ultimatum. Make the Christmas cards as much like my real life as possible. I deliberately picked out cards with more than two colors in them. Do you know how hard it is to change that particular habit? Boy, howdy. Especially because all of the selections are really nice. No, really. They are.

Here's the short version of the story: I narrowed it down to what I think are three really super choices. These, these, and these. I like all three because they have lots of color but are still simple and nonspecific (I believe that the Project Runway judges would call them "chic"), and just looking at them makes me really, really happy. Even with pictures of gorgeous supermodel children whom I don't even know. (Don't you want to know those people in the pictures? I do.) And I already know Shae, so I know her picture will look great on any of these cards.

But anyway, here I am, still spending time wondering what cards I'm going to end up sending. I haven't really quite committed to anything yet -- and maybe tomorrow I'll see something else that I like even better. I'll take suggestions, if you are partial to any design. You can see all of Shutterfly's holiday photo card options and let me know if there is something you like better. I might even listen, if your card suggestion comes with some kind of magic spell for getting Shae to actually sit still and look at the camera so I can take the stinking picture.

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This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.