As Soon As We Get That Picture . . .

 . . . I can get set ordering my Christmas cards from Shutterfly. At first I imagined a lovely flower-filled September shot, then the realization came we might be looking at another fall picture, and now I'm trying to decide whether or not we should all wear snow boots. But we're doing it on Saturday! (If you have an opinion about the boots, feel free to share.)

I've been baby-stepping into this Christmas cards thing. At first it was just electronic greetings, then two years ago I made my first step into actually using the postal service with this card from Shutterfly. I have to admit I was proud of it, and looked at it way longer than someone should actually gaze at their own Christmas card. It was limited release - people who don't use the internet and family. Then last year, I almost didn't send, but I couldn't make backwards progress. I sent to the same limited release crowd, using a quick-print place for the card. I didn't love it like I did the one from the year before, but I thought it was a valiant post-partum effort.

This year, I was excited to find that bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010 . Hooray, back to the beautiful ones! If we go with the boots theme, we may go with this card. Or maybe this one.  I think this one is fun, if our family ends up looking good in color. Not always the case, but if it is, I like this option, too. And if we look sooo good, we might require this one.

As long as I'm in picture mode, I should mention, that yes family, I do want you to send me pictures. I have been making family calendars on Shutterfly for the last six years. At first, we just put one picture in per month, but now there is a huge variety of templates and backgrounds, making people like lil ol' me look like design geniuses. Also, you can keep track of family birthdays and anniversaries on the calendar, and the beauty is they save the dates for you year after year. Saved my new-baby life last year. Go here if you want to make one yourself.

And while you're digging up those photos, if any of you have pictures of Andrew during his first year, I want them bad! I've made Josh and Noah photo books from Shutterfly all about their first year, and they love them. I swear it is THE BEST way to get a crazy toddler to calm down, to sit down and look at their baby book with them. Problem for poor Andrew is that I didn't have a camera for half of his first year, so I'll have to depend on others. Shutterfly always has great promotions, so I've found the books to be quite economical. Make your own book here.

So, as you can see, I've got quite the holiday list going on here . . . is it possible to send more cards than before? Stay tuned.