So I finally finished my Christmas cards this week. When I saw that it was December 6th and realized that task hadn't even crossed my mind, I sort of panicked and forced myself make the dreaded stop to a Target photo machine. For some reason the "choosing" of the card stresses me out and makes me break out in a sweat...(First of all, because I'm picky about how I want my cards to look, and 2nd, because there's always someone 2 1/2 feet behind you staring at the back of your head hoping you'll hurry up)... ugh. And then there's only about 20 card options to choose from, the downloading of THE family picture, the zooming, the editing, and all the minutes wasted on how to creatively rephrase the typical "Wishing you all a Merry Christmas", from the blah, blah, blahs...
In years past, I would just print off a picture and made sure to include a "family newsletter". I think I even printed off our family pictures on my printer one year. On regular paper. And my face looked pink. I know because I have one of them in an ornament from 2000. Anyway, since it was before my blogging days, I can remember spending hours trying to make each line rhyme and make our lives sound as fascinating as possible. I imagined that I was putting a little smile on everyone's face that I sent our cards to when they read that " we love the Arizona sun", and "miss you all, each and every one"...
I am cringing just thinking about it. It's almost as bad as when I thought it was cool to sponge splotches of white on the kitchen cabinets I painted pink in my basement in 1997. And flower patterned stencils on top of that. Really. What was I thinking??
I like newsletters, (just not the 3 page kind). I even like reading a few sentences...(handwritten is a bonus). And I'll even be happy with just a family picture. But please...oh please...one of my biggest "pet-peeves" is opening a store bought card with just "Merry Christmas, Love, so-and-so". Thanks for the thought, but for some reason that just doesn't seem meaningful to me. I like to know what's new with people I haven't heard from in a while, and I especially love to see pictures. And even though facebook and blogs make it so much easier to stay connected and updated on what's happening with friends, I still appreciate the printed out picture to tape up to my fridge!
(On a huge side note, I'd like to point out that my oldest daughter decided that if we someday have a pet we are to name him "Peeve" since I am very famous for having Pet peeves)...I shall blog about that someday perhaps...
So anyways, I re-analyzed my pile of cards this year. I usually send out about 40, and usually recieve less than 20. I also didn't realize stamps are over 40 cents now. The thrifty nerd that I am, I decided to hand deliver a "few" of the ones to my neighbors and families I see on a regular basis anyway. I am now stressing if that was tacky or not. Oh well...I saved all of $5.
Now I'm wondering if I should go back around and back them all cookies. I need to figure out how to erase the "neighbor who is too cheap for stamps status".
Note to self: just buy the stamps.
Well then. Here's us the photo I chose for the official "Palacios Family 2010 Christmas Card". I should have spent a couple extra minutes adjusting the text on the cards before I printed since it almost looks like it says "Vishing you all a Merry Christmas". Nice. It has a bit of German ring to it....right above the "Feliz Navidad 2010".
And here's the mini rhyme I didn't glue to the back of the cards this year:
...and some weeks it makes us dizzy!
0 comments:
Post a Comment