Christmas Cards a la Pinterest

So this year I decided our family needed to send out Christmas cards. I have always been anti Christmas cards. Why? I have no idea. I think the internet has made it easier to reason NOT sending them. I'm like, "why? If people want to see pictures of us, they can facebook me." Welllllll, the problem with that is, some of Troy's and my immediate family don't even have computers, internet, or smart phones.

And now we have a child and we moved. And truth be told, I LOVE LOVE LOVE getting Christmas cards. LOVE. So what is my problem? Well, I finally admitted it to myself. I'm lazy. All that addressing cards and UGH stamps are expensive. But if I didn't send them out early, we might not get any from people who normally send them to us who don't know our new address. And I want cards too! It makes my heart smile. Or sing carols. And I want our grandparents to hear from us.

I wanted to do something cute and inexpensive (not pay a photographer). I started in the easiest place...Pinterest. Here are a few of the ideas that I found.

Option 1:

I just adore everything about this picture. Avery and Optimus would be ADORABLE. But we have extended family who got some of these cards who have never met Avery in person and if Troy and I weren't in the picture, they might open the card and be like, "huh? Who are these people?" And also I would have to buy all of the cute costume things for Avery and Optimus to wear. Troy is also SUPER anti dressing up dogs in any kind of clothing. So that option (as much as I love it) was out.

Option 2:

I think this is precious. But I was like, there is NO way that Avery and Optimus will sit still long enough for this to happen. Troy and I will both have super forced smiles and it will just be bad...

Option 3/THE WINNER: I used this picture as our inspiration or (PIN-spiration) for our Christmas card this year.

Here is our card that we sent out. Sorry for the poor picture quality, I snapped a pic of the card with my phone....I should have downloaded the "sample photo" from Shutterfly when I ordered it....oops. It says "We wish we could be with your for the holidays, but we're a little tied up." Witty, I know. Troy thought of that. So while we had some pinspiration, Troy thought of the content. He's punny.

We took the photo over Thanksgiving while my cousin Laura and her hubby Dan were here with their ADORABLE son. Dan danced around with Jameson trying to get Avery to smile and look at the camera while Laura took pictures and tried to keep Optimus from chasing Dan around. It was crazy. She took about 15 pictures and we decided this one was the best.

I'm SO glad we sent them out this year. When I called to confirm a few addresses with my Grandma, she was like, "what is this for?" I said, "I know it's hard to believe, but we are actually going to send out cards for the holidays." My grandma goes, "well it's about damn time! You've been married for more than 5 years now." Thanks grandma...

Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that you all have been good this year and Santa is very kind to you. Sing happy birthday to Jesus and remember of the reason for the season.