Christmas Card

I had two snow days this week.  And first thing Monday morning my fan club (ha!) gave me an assignment to post something.  I started brainstorming and crafting a post in my head.  Never got around to it because my almost one year old (OH MY GOSH!) has developed quite an independent streak in the past week.  A post on the snow days was just not happening.  Sorry fans.  But I did kind of like the idea that started floating around my head, and I hope I get at least partial credit for completing my assignment.

So, it's Christmas time.  I've always been that person who DOESN'T send out Christmas cards.  I think about it every year.  I look at cards every year after Christmas, when they are like 75% off.  I have bought great Christmas cards at these sales because "next year I will do Christmas cards."  I honestly can't tell you for how many years I have had these boxes of cards sitting in my bins of Christmas decorations.

This year I feel like we have no excuse to not send Christmas cards.  We have an adorable kid, and who doesn't love a photo card at Christmas?  PLUS I have endured basically 30 years worth of Christmas Card photo shoots, and it's time to continue the tradition with my own kid.

What's the best Christmas picture I've ever had to participate in, you ask?  I'm so glad you were wondering.  It would be this one, circa 1988.  The only problem with this picture is that my youngest brother, Charlie, wasn't around yet to be in it.  Please note the sweatshirts, turtlenecks, and ROARING fire directly behind me.  

Last weekend seemed the perfect time to take pictures.  Evelyn was in a great mood, my mom was requesting a picture of her in her Christmas onesie, and it was snowing so we couldn't really go anywhere.  This was going to be easy.  I practically take a picture of her everyday because she's so darn photogenic.  Let the photo shoot begin.

First I went for the religious tone and decided to set her up with the nativity set, which she loves.

That wasn't really going anywhere, so I decided to just go with the lovely snowy scene going on out the window.  

And while we're at it, Steve thought we should stick her hands outside in the snow so she can feel it for the first time!  Great idea!

I wasn't really digging any of those pictures, so I decided to give the popular baby-with-Christmas-lights a go.  

  

Well that wasn't working.  The lighting was off at first, so we decided to hold off until later in the afternoon.  At that point we couldn't use the flash, which caused blurry pictures.  What a mess.  Steve thought, hey, let's light a fire to add to the Christmas mood.    

  

When all was said and done, I had about 3 pictures that were in any way usable for a Christmas card.  So I logged onto my Shutterfly and started to play around with formats, phrasing, and the like.  Once I finally had something put together that I kind of liked, I started going through all of our lists of people we would want to send cards to and as the number started to increase, I started to realize how expensive it is to order these photo cards.  Then you throw in stamps and this turns into quite the expense.  For a card that I only kind of liked.  I said forget it and ditched the photo card.  Instead, I would like you all to consider this post The Lane Family Christmas card.  

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Steve, Betsy, and Evelyn