Holiday Greetings

This weekend is a very exciting one in this house full of Halloween parties, parades and Trick-or-Treating.  My kids can't wait and I have to admit, I'm almost as excited as they are.  I love Halloween!  However, Halloween marks another season for me as well.  Christmas.  Yes, Christmas.

Once Halloween hits I feel it is time to start cracking down on planning for the holidays.  I like to spread out my shopping over as many paychecks as possible and so the earlier I begin the easier it is to do that.  I begin by making lists of everyone I need to purchase presents for and jotting down some ideas.  I have my kids make their lists and star the 5 most wanted items.  As we move closer to Christmas I begin making more lists of errands I need to run and baking that I want to do.  But do you know what I often overlook until almost the last minute?  Our family Christmas cards.  This year I vow to be more on top of things! 

Each year I strive to have a perfect picture to feature on our Christmas cards.  When the kids were a little younger we always went for a family portrait that I'd make into a card.  The first year we went to Disney was the first year I strayed from that and used a picture of the kids in front of the castle.  This year I already know I'm using a picture from our family vacation to Acadia National Park and I have narrowed it down to 5.  So to help me narrow it down even further I have started looking at holiday photo cards options.  There are so many wonderful designs it is hard to choose!  These are my three favorite holiday card designs from the new Shutterfly holiday collection:

I love this one because the focus will really be on the picture I choose with a quaint message.

This one just shows off the picture and a moment we enjoyed.

I like this one because again, the focus is on the picture I choose.

One of these years I'm going to surprise my family and friends and send greetings such as Thanksgiving Cards or  New Year's Cards.  It is a slightly unexpected time to send a card and takes the pressure off of having them out at the busiest time of holiday preparation too! 

Do you want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source.

This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.