Oh, Christmas card. Oh, Christmas card.

December is the month when I make more lists than any other time of year; it’s also the month when I fall behind more than I care to admit. Perhaps my goals are way too ambitious (OK, I don’t really need to try four new cookie recipes in one evening or hand-paint every piece of wrapping paper we use for gifts. Argh.), but I think part of it is just the nature of the season. We all know Santa’s going list-crazy this time of year. Thankfully, he’s a bit more efficient than me.

But in an effort to keep myself sane while the snowflakes start falling, I’ve pledged to tackle at least three projects from my list each week (and then refrain from feeling guilty for saving the rest for later). Which brings me to my project of late: the Christmas card.

I’ve established a bit of a system for throwing this thing together: Namely, I choose some photos, upload them to Snapfish.com, write a festive little ditty to accompany the image(s) and order a box of cards, envelopes included. It’s pretty handy dandy and definitely streamlines the whole process. A stamp and an address is all it needs to get from my house to yours.

But a Christmas card is more than meets the eye. I mean, how many cards to you get each year? Do look forward to some? Giggle at others? Enjoy a good familial round of, “What were they thinking?” Jared and I wanted to do it right, so last year when we set out to make our very first Christmas card as a fun-lovin’ duo, we laid a few ground rules:

The card had to be:
• cute
• festive
• personal

without being:
• too serious
• awkward
• or make-fun-of-us worthy.

Believe it or not, that’s a pretty tall order considering we’re just two crazy cats with one little dog child and no human babies to show off to our Rolodex of card recipients (which in itself, is rather slim). Yep, the folks with human babies have it made. Everyone loves a cute kid on a card.

So last year, in an effort to avoid coming off too seriously, we chose one photo of each of us (Elle-dog included) in a less-than-serious setting. Here’s what we came up with:

Yes, Jared did spell “Hi” out of bread crumbs. He’s a pretty talented guy. And Ella is our guaranteed “cute” factor. That fuzz ball always holds up her end of the deal.

And now to this year. We’re working from the same guidelines, and though we did a much better job of taking photos of the two/three of us together, it still felt a smidgen too serious to slap a photo of our smiling faces on a card for all the world (err, family and friends) to see. But using one of our goofy photos (believe me, we have tons) seemed equally off, so we settled on a lovely pic of our pride and joy. Awww.

Last year we were a bit apprehensive about dedicating our entire card to the fur baby, but we’re very proud puppy parents. And let’s face it; in the absence of a human baby, puppies are the next best thing. So with Elle-dog front and center in all her sleeping glory, accompanied by a jolly quip about “wishing you naps,” I think we’ve found a winner.

So how about you? Are you sending holiday cards this year? How do you put them together? Any funny stories about holiday cards from years gone by? Can’t wait to hear about it!

XO,
Katrina