Coming soon to a mailbox near you!

I'm hoping to send out our 2010 Christmas cards very soon.....I've been adamant about not starting Christmas rituals, activities, shopping and decorating until after Thanksgiving! I just hate that we skip straight from Halloween to Christmas these days. But, I won't harp on that subject.

Back to Christmas cards..... I never thought I'd be a Christmas card (and am definitely not the letter writing/bragging) type, but I really loved giving and receiving Christmas cards last year, so I think it's gonna stick. I kinda used Christmas cards as a way to send wedding thank you's last year but this year it's just all about saying Merry Christmas! I had a little trouble trying to pick out the picture this year since last year I was spoiled with having an abundance of wedding pictures, but Jon and I decided to just venture out in the backyard with the tripod and dogs and capture a quick picture of our little family. Then it was the next step, picking out the design!

That's a process all in itself. I had so much trouble narrowing it down to 4 different designs that worked well with our pictures, took votes from my parents and Jon and then decided to keep it simple this year. We ended up with a very simple, one picture card. I figured I would stay away from the collage options so that people didn't think it was the "Jon and Amanda" show. But, they turned out cute and simple. I'm excited to get them and send them out soon!

Last year I stumbled across Shutterfly and now pretty much use them for everything. Last year I ordered photo books (http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books) of engagements pictures, bridal portraits, wedding pictures and the honeymoon. They're really great as coffee table books and we tend to look at them more in the book format than we would if they were stuck somewhere in an album or even worse...on a CD! We also gave Mom and Dad Ray and the Mom and Dad Crowe a personalized wedding book last year for Christmas. While I was at it I also ordered a personalized calendar (http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars) and of course, the Christmas cards (http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationary/christmas-photo-cards). I was extremely happy with how they all turned out and the quality and will be ordering both Christmas cards and moving announcements from Shutterfly very soon! I added a couple pictures of ones we liked but ultimately decided against. Aren't they cute? Of course I couldn't ruin the surprise!

Oh, and if you want to get 50 free Christmas cards and try out Shutterfly this year than go to http://bit.ly/sfly2010! I did! Thanks Ashley :-)