It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Anyone who knows me well, or really at all, knows that I.love.Christmas.   I could dedicate a whole slew of posts to various Christmas obsessions, but this one is about the cards.  There is something exciting and wonderful about walking out to the mailbox and seeing smiling faces of friends and family.  I remember growing up that mom would keep Christmas cards from years past, and I loved comparing the cards from year to year.  One family in particular added a child just about every year (at least, it seemed that way)!

Picking out a Christmas card is almost as difficult as taking the perfect picture.  My favorite site is shutterfly.com.  You can view their Christmas cards here.  If you sign up for their emails, you'll get lots of great offers throughout the year!

For our first Christmas, we forgot to take a picture!  At the last minute, we had to set up the camera on the table and take a self timer photo.  It was dreadfully difficult and took about 25 takes!

The next year, I made sure to have a friend come take a picture for us.  We added two furbabies, which quadrupled the number of photos we had to take to get a decent one.  Dogs just don't sit still for pictures.  The end.  Leo is totally hamming it up, but I'm having to hold Layla next to us!

When you fail to get a good shot, you always have the option to use a multi-shot photocard, like this one.  Year three was a smorgasbord of our travels and adventures from that year...New York City, Hackensack, Cloudland Canyon, Metropolis, and the Mississippi Headwaters.  I won't bore you with all those pictures!

Last year was probably my favorite card.  We spend Christmas in Germany, and I really wanted a picture from our trip for the card, so I held off until after we got back.  We got some great pictures of us in the Alps in Fussen, Germany that we used for our first New Year's card!  The link will take you to my favorite one from this season's selection (the one we used last year isn't up anymore).  Here's one of my favorite pics from that card:

It's not a perfect shot, but holy cow!  I'm in the Alps!  At the top of a mountain.  Amazing!

Caroline is going to take our pictures this year over Thanksgiving.  Hopefully it will be quick and painless.  Most of our cards in the past have been red or green, so I'm thinking of doing something a little different.  Here are a few options...one, two, and three!

If you've sent me a Christmas card since we've been married, it's hanging out in a basket by our Christmas tree.  I love to thumb through them and count the blessings of our friends and family!