Back in October, Shutterfly approached me with a holiday card offer.
I love Shutterfly, although I haven't used it as much as I'd like, and now (yay!) they were offering me the the chance to get 50 free cards, plus offer three of my readers 25 free cards each!
But because of my "Thanksgiving Comes First" stance, I turned them down. It was tough, let me tell you.
To my surprise, they agreed to let me postpone my post until after Thanksgiving. (Thanks, Shutterfly!) It makes me even more eager to use their services and products.
And guess what? It's after Thanksgiving!
In fact, tomorrow is the first Sunday in Advent, the season when we reflect on the Nativity and think about the future coming of the Lord… essentially, the beginning of the Christmas season, when I hope to find tons of Christmas cards stuffed and overflowing out of my mailbox every day.
You can't expect Christmas cards if you don't send them, though, so every year I vow to get my cards in the mail the day after Thanksgiving.
I think it's only happened once in 30 years. Usually my cards arrive closer to New Year's Day than Christmas.
When the kids were young, I took their photo, printed a zillion copies and stuck them in cheap Christmas cards. It was easy to snap a photo of my kids were young; not so easy once they got older, busier and more vocal in protest over the photos.
So I began writing one of those Christmas newsletters with photos captured during the year scattered amongst the text. Then I stuck it in a cheap card.
But I've always drooled over the beautiful photo cards that arrive in our mailbox – and this year, thanks to Shutterfly, I get to send out some of my own.
Now, I just need to choose from one of their beautiful card designs. That's going to be tough. For me, Christmas is a religious day and I want my cards to reflect that belief, but how I'm going to pick one out of Shutterfly's many choices, I don't know.
I've got it narrowed down to three, though. (Aren't these beautiful?)
(I'd insert photos of my own family, though, of course!)
The bottom one is my favorite, but I doubt if I have one single photo of my family. I can't wait to sort through the photos of the past year for the ones to use – and I can't wait to see them on one of these cards. They'll look so much better than on a piece of copy paper!
Click here to see the rest of Shutterfly's Christmas card collection or here to see their collection of greeting cards.
For a chance to win 25 free cards from Shutterfly of your own, just tell me something you're grateful for in the comments section below. I'll choose the three winners by random selection at midnight December 1st and will announce the winners in a post on December 2nd. (Be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you!)
And now for my weekly Sweet! report…
Sunday: a homily that soothes your heart; a quiet day at work following one of the busiest ever; fried chocolate torte
Monday: listening to old cd's while you work; your puppy reminding you to take breaks from the computer
Tuesday: thunderstorms that wake you up; morning sunflares; a letter from a dear friend
Wednesday: a barbed wire fence glistening with dew drops;a potential new photo shoot; finding a back way through the countryside into Houston to bypass holiday traffic; being with all three of your kids at once in your childhood home
Thursday: cooking in your mother's kitchen; drinking mimosas from crystal stemware you bought your mother in Venice 35 years ago (and being able to picture the store where you bought it); complements on your roasted turkey and ham; holding hands in prayer with your family, giving thanks for one another; watching the sun set while you swing; the team you're rooting for winning a teeth-clenching-close football game
Friday: Thanksgiving leftovers; gabbing with your mother and sister at the kitchen table; arriving back home from a road trip, safe and sound
Saturday: waking to rainfall; a morning walk with your sweetie; seeing a friend's precious red-haired granddaughter in person; a second professional photo shoot; your husband helping your daughter with her engineering homework
Hope you had a week overflowing with Sweet! moments!
(Don't forget to share one here for your chance to win 25 cards from Shutterfly!)
Long Hollow 
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