The Countdown, Cards, & Invisible Presents

If you started singing the 12 days of Christmas today you would hit 12 lords a leaping on Christmas day so I think it's pretty sure to say that Christmas is right around the corner and the countdown has begun. Every day the kids continue to ask if it's Jesus's birthday and if Santa is coming tonight.

I still have lots of shopping to do and we are still adding more home made ornaments to the tree but instead of stressed I am just excited about the celebration to come.

This week part of this celebrating started as we began receiving Christmas cards. A few arrived from some of our Georgia relatives Monday, and today we got two from some of our wonderful GT friends in Oregon and Massachusetts. The kids and I both get so excited to open them and especially see the pics of our family and friends. I actually still have the Christmas pictures from my cousins' families from last year on the fridge when their families both had one less member. I love seeing how all the children and families have grown and changed in a year. Most likely all these new pictures will stay on the fridge till next year as well. I want to say how much I appreciate yall taking the time to send these and we do really appreciate them here. I know having just sent out our cards as well that it can be stressful to think about one more thing to do at Christmas time and it's nice to know people enjoy receiving them.

I was having an discussion on what to do with cards after the holidays and I'm leaning towards making the non-photo ones into ornaments (as shown here) and the photo ones I may put in an album eventually (after they leave the fridge next year maybe) or display them as a wreath next year (as Martha recommends here). Also for the non-photo ones if you don't want to do the above you can donate them to a recycle cards program like St. Judes. Or you could let your kids cut the front of the cards off and attach them to a new back and take them to a nursing home or children's hospital even (something I hope to do with the kids when they're older). So if yall are looking for something new to do with your cards those are some options.

Another thing putting me in a mood for the holidays is my children having been giving me presents today. First, C started a new game: Invisible presents. She comes up to me with her hands cupped underneath the imaginary 'package' she's just 'wrapped' and says "Mommy I brought you a present." I say "Thank you it's wonderful" (or something similar)and she says "What is it?" Then I get to come up with something clever. Some of the responses I got that she enjoyed included a kiss (it was blown into the box), a yawn, and a smile from my beautiful little girl. As we played this for quite a chunk of the evening I thought often how the best gifts really are the ones you can't always hold or even always see but we are given in so many simple moments by our children. This memory was a present in itself.

J's early Christmas present to us today continued to be potty training! He is doing well though holding back on pooping. This is better than having accidents I guess but I am looking forward to when he can just get back to his normal play routine minus diapers versus having to continue making so many stops to sit on the pot and wait. He's doing very well though (not as easy as C but like I've said before every child is different for sure and training girls versus boys is very different too it seems).

E has been giving my presents today too, by laughing, smiling, and squealing at me every time I look at her. This included during nursing which made the nursing sessions take a bit longer but was still very cute. I love how excited she gets to see me even if she's with me most of the time, she gets excited again and again and never seems bored. I can't believe tomorrow she'll be 3 months old! It's gone by so fast and she's changed so much already.

I hope you and your families are doing well preparing for Christmas too and enjoying the gifts your little ones give you every day as well, whether or not they're wrappable or invisible. They're definitely the most precious I've received.

Santa's using Shutterfly

As a mom I love pictures of my children, taking them, sharing them, and putting them on gifts for family and friends. I do this with the help of the photo site Shutterfly. I love Shutterfly for prints, cards, and gifts throughout the year. I've used them for birth announcements, prints, photo mugs, and even mouse pads. They can put your pics on almost anything it feels like.

One of my favorite products they offer is cards. They provide you with several card design options which you then can insert your own family photos into, and personalize the text with their easy editing program (all while on the web, no downloading required). They'll address and send your cards out for you or send them all to you so you can do it yourself. They are great high quality card stock with vibrant colors which look great. Perfect for Christmas Cards (and they have tons of choices). They also offer a large variety of Holiday Cards which would be beautiful personalized with your pics.

Now you may be wondering why I'm so excited about their cards to blog on them now well besides that last week my birth announcements for E arrived (be checking mail boxes soon), right now Shutterfly is offering 50 free holiday cards for bloggers who write about their products. If you're interested in participating check it out here: Shutterfly Free Holiday Cards.

If you don't need cards this year Shutterfly also has great options for Christmas gifts that I'm sure your family members would love (I know I would). You can make photo books quickly with a beautiful final project (easier to make and keep track of then albums in my opinion too). And for the kids you can get their photos made into books and puzzles featuring their favorite television characters. C and J love Dora and Diego so these are perfect for us. Santa will definitely be using Shutterfly this year.

ETA: Here is the card we chose to send for 2010