Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Christmas Card 2008

A funny thing happened this year--I got all caught up in Christmas and the hustle and bustle that I never produced the perfect Christmas card.  Usually, I put a lot of thought into the production of a clever card and blurb about our updated life, but this year, I was just too in the moment of all of our holiday events, that it just never got done.  As the weeks were rolling along into December, I was buying into the media buzz about the tanking economy and thought wouldn't it be funny to recycle one of our cards from year's past and just update some of the items from it?  I have a stack of over runs of postcards from 2006 when I was pregnant with Luke and we were chopping down our tree.  I could have just printed some stickers of Luke and stuck them in between the kids, added a few current facts on the back and called it "recycled!"  We had a few laughs about the prospect of doing this, but then I just couldn't spend the time to be so witty and was thinking it would probably take about the same time as procuring a new card, not to mention money.   Then I came across a picture I took of the kids in Central Park on Thanksgiving Day.  I joked with the kids that it was the "money shot" and explained to them what that meant.  Literally, of all the photos I took of the kids together, it was the only one worthy of a print!  I started thinking;  I could still go "green" because several years ago, when I was preparing for our annual card, I bought two different styles of cards and enough in each design with the thought that I'd return the losing design.  Well, I did try to return all 15 boxes, but since they were seasonal, my favorite "red bullseye logo" store wouldn't take them back and so I was stuck and have been storing all 15 boxes of cards in my Christmas stuff for the last 4 years.  Brilliant, I'll just print pictures and marry them to the cards and call it good.  Aside from being dated looking, it was good.  And it still took a lot of time. And it's still my top 3 things about Christmas that I love so much--receiving your cards and letters!  With Facebook and the blog, I wasn't sure I could whip up anything you don't already know, so I just signed most of the cards to add that personal touch.  Afterall, isn't a blog the ultimate in a perpetual Christmas letter?!  I was surprised this year that the return of sends to receives was about 80%!   So, now I did my part of going green for 2008.  2007's effort was a little more substantial, but every little bit, yada yada yada...


Thank you for keeping in touch and I promise a more contrived card next year! 

xoxo  The Smiths

Wesley 4, Luke 18 mos, Sophia 7

2 comments:

Denise said...

I love, love this picture!

Kyndra said...

I love receiving Christmas cards because I hang them all up in my home during the season and it is a constant reminder of the friends I love. It's an individual effort instead of the mass blog I have going the rest of the year. I love the tradition and I don't think I will ever let it go away.