The Power of A Christmas Card

One of my very favorite things of the holiday season is sending out cards. With my hectic, kid-shuffling life; Christmas cards are the only correspondence that I with some recipients all year. There are so many people in my life that I care deeply about, but for one reason or another life has taken us in different directions. It brings a smile to my face when I receive an annual card from them hearing about their new adventures. And conversely, I enjoy including them in the new and exciting changes that happen in our family each year. It helps me to relive those nights my old girlfriends and I would stay up all night giggling and chatting. Or the summer trips I took with extended family. There is something about a holiday greeting card that makes all of the time and space between people melt away and we can pick up right where we left off. And even though we can't get together for lunch every week, we still feel connected to each other.

With that said, you can see how important it is to pick the right card. I always head to Shutterfly.com first. Partly, because I already have a bunch of photos uploaded to their site, but also because they have a great selection of snazzy designs to choose from. I found a few sites that were offering free cards, but they didn't have anything really great to choose from. So, I decided to go with ol' SF once again. I like to showcase my kids, so I usually choose something with quite a few picture slots. Another reason I like Shutterfly is that not only can you put images on the cover, but you can put them on both of the inside flaps as well. This enables you to feature some of the year's highlights right on the card. Here is the model we decided to go with this season. Shutterfly has added new exclusive designs this year so the selection is better than ever.

And if you stumped on gifts for grandparents, you can't go wrong with a photo calendar or mug. It let's them see their grand kids all year long. My folks love it because we are 1000 miles apart for most of the year. A word of caution though, grandparents and spouses are pretty much the only ones who appreciate gifts with your kids' plastered all over them. However, a puzzle or coaster set featuring a cheesy photo of yourself makes a great gag gift for a sibling or your next gift exchange.