a year without Christmas cards

I just couldn't let that happen.  Until last week, I thought that was just the way this year was going to go.  We've sent Christmas cards out every year since we've been married...it felt wrong to skip a year just because I felt like I had run out of time and we hadn't gotten a Christmas card worthy photo yet this season.  So, on Saturday, I took a shower and dried my hair (which I rarely do).  I couldn't let an "I did my hair" day go to waste, so we headed out to the backyard to see if we could get a picture worth sending out to family and friends.  Thankfully, mission accomplished.

Here are the three pictures that were in the Christmas card 2011 running:

Originally, I wanted to place an order with shutterfly.com.  I put together the cutest card, but when it came time for placing it in the "shopping cart", I just couldn't swallow the $90 price tag.  Areyoukiddingme?!  Even with coupons that I found and applied to the order, $60 was still too much to pull the plug on.  Back to square one.  Costco was my next option...come to find out you can only order Christmas cards and pick up at a warehouse store.  Scratch that idea (since the nearest Costco is 5+ hours away, in Texas).  So, I decided to make my own.  After a few hours playing around in Photoshop, I came up with something both Travis and I liked.  I uploaded them to Costo's photo center, and they'll be printed like a 5x7 photo.  (Thanks for the idea, Cherish!)  For $17 and change, I don't think they're too shabby.  I just need to pick up some envelopes, and we'll be good to go.  They should reach their recipients well before Christmas.  :)

Here's what we settled on:

We snapped a few more pictures before heading inside to warm up.

I love this one.

Have you ordered your Christmas cards yet?  Maybe you're skipping cards this year?  This time of year tends to get a bit overwhelming, hope you're staying on top of your holiday to-do list!