Do you do Christmas cards?

*Family members!  If you want to be surprised, don't look at the picture below.  ;)*

So, we're doing Christmas cards this year for the first time in probably 2-3 years. I won't even get into it...well, OK, I will. 

EVERY year, the issue is one or both of the following:

a. we don't have a good (or any) picture of all 6 of us.  In my opinion, once you have kids, you need to send out a picture of them for The People.  The People do not want a lame card with no pic; they want to see the kids!  But I have popular and busy stepkids with better things to do than pose for family photos, OK?  And we don't all live under the same roof.  AND I'm not a "Kodak moment" kind of person.  I often forget my camera and have to rely on more responsible family members to send me the pics that they take.  I'm ashamed to say that I currently have more stinkin' pictures of tutorials - my hands putting fabric through a sewing machine, for instance - than I do of my own precious family.  How SAD is that?  More on that later...oh trust me.  More on that later.  So there's that.

and/or,

b. we don't have (read: I don't like to pry open our proverbial wallet to spend) the cash for STAMPS, let alone the cards. I remember when stamps were .22 cents! How annoying that everything is so expensive now.

This year, however, the planets have all aligned.

We have GREAT pictures of all 6 of us, taken professionally at the beach this summer.  I got a killer deal from the photographer, who included his print release as a part of the package. NOT that I think we have to have "professional pics or nothing" to send out...we just happen to this year. 

Also, when I ordered my kids' school pictures this year, I was so happy because if you ordered them online (which I always prefer to do anyway...writing checks is such a pain) (yes, that is grammatically correct.  It just doesn't sound like it is.)...um, where was I?  If you ordered them online, you got a $20 credit at Shutterfly.  Well, I ordered two packages, so I got a $40 credit!  Woo-hoo!  That definitely softened the blow of having to drop $44 on school pictures.  Ouch.

So after much playing around and trying out different card designs today, here's the one I ordered:

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Yay for Christmas cards!  Stamps are still .44 cents, darn it. That's the only thing.  But oh well, everything else worked out great so I guess I can suck it up this year and just do it.  ;)