It's Holiday Card Season

Every year, just after Thanksgiving, the holiday cards start arriving in the mail.  It is fun to see every one's personality shine through in the card that they select and in the family letters that they include.  I tend to use different cards for different groups of people.  I have cards to use with work colleagues, friends, and family.  I like to use photo collage cards with my closest friends and family and pre-printed cards for the rest of my card list.  I prefer to use collage options because it is fun to share the fun that I have had throughout the past year with everyone.  I'm not always the best at getting my cards prepared early and instead try to tackle it in small doses...a few cards per day until I finish the list! 

One of my all time favorite cards was a picture of a friend's daughter in front of a Nativity scene.  The letter included with the photo card told the story of how the baby Jesus had been stolen from the nativity scene the week before they took the photo.  In true Southern humor, my friend remarked something to the tune of "What do you do when baby Jesus disappears? Go to Walmart to buy a new one!" It was a classic holiday letter that stays with you!

Shutterfly has lots of photo card options for Christmas. I like the option below because you can use multiple photos and the design is cute, simple, and modern. Like I mentioned, I love the collage option but Shutterfly has lots of options for photo cards from just 1 photo to multiples like this one.


One of my favorite Christmas gifts (that I beg my sisters for each year) is a custom photo calendar of our family.  My sisters fill the calendar with pictures of their kids and all of our family and it is something that I treasure.  Shutterfly has great calendar options and it makes a great gift for those close to you too especially if you use the option to preprint birthdays and other milestones in the calendar.


 Another cute idea that I discovered on Shutterfly are the custom holiday gift tags.  How fun would this be to use for gifts that you share with neighbors, coworkers, and friends. They have lots of fun designs that you can use to coordinate with your wrapping paper. 


Don't forget to start sorting through your photos so that you can make an annual photo book.  I like to make a book each year summarizing all of my race accomplishments from the previous year.  I'll be working on one over the next few weeks to give to our running team coach.  It is hard work to get everyone on the team to turn in pictures but the finished scrapbook is a treasured gift and only scrapes the surface at thanking our coach for everything that he gives to our team! Just an idea for you!!!

For you bloggers out there, consider visiting Shutterfly for more information on how Bloggers can get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly. Learn more: http://bit.ly/sfly2010.