The most wonderful time of the year!

I {heart} the holidays.  Everything about them just fills me to the brim with excitement and joy.  I'm so thankful that my girls seem to share in my Christmas enthusiasm.  We've been watching Christmas movies since August, listening to Christmas music for at least a month now, making Christmas lists, planning where the tree will go, and as soon as the temperature dipped to "slightly chilly" the girls were begging for the fireplace to go on.  I, of course, obliged.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I start planning our Christmas cards....in July.  What are the girls going to wear? Will they match? or just coordinate? Will we do pics of just kiddos or the whole fam? (Let's face it, most folks just want to see the kids anyway right??) Where will we take the pictures? Then I get to start looking at Christmas cards and planning which one I want.  There used to be so few options available.  Now, it's nearly overwhelming.  There's also the cost factor involved.

My sweet friend Liz reminded me about Shutterfly's awesome Christmas cards! And they are truly on the affordable side.  The options are pretty endless too.  I browsed through their site and kept saying "ooh, I like that one. Ooh, no I like that one better!"

They have the fun 5x5 size

They have true "cards" where you can write on the inside (and they're great because they sit up for display!). You may notice I have a thing for the cards with three pictures.  It makes it so easy when you have three kids to get just ONE good picture of each of them instead of one good picture with all three.  Believe me.  

Of course they have options for just one picture (or two, or four, or eight...whatever you prefer).  

I loved the inside of this one (also named "the most wonderful time of the year, appropriately).  You can actually do a group shot on the outside of the card and then include a small pic of each family member with an update on them on the inside.  

(a pic of the inside)

They cover every saying, whether you prefer "Happy Holidays", "Merry Christmas", or even "Bah Humbug." Ok, I was joking about that one. Just making sure you were still paying attention.  I personally like the Religious cards.  Afterall, Jesus IS the reason for the season.  And I agree with this card.  Every good gift does come from above.  Especially my three gifts.

We are using Shutterfly for our family calendars this year 

(they happen to do invitations, gift tags, and photo books too!). 

The best part is that by being a blogger, I was able to get 50 free cards just for lovin' Shutterfly! 

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly, follow the arrow à here :) You're welcome. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some shoppin' to do....and I need to figure out what the girls are going to wear!