What goes into a Christmas Card?

There are so many things I love about the holidays, and one of them that I am straight up crazy about is receiving holiday cards.  We tape them all up in our kitchen so that each time I enter I pass the faces and signatures of people we love both far and near.

We are big fans of the photo holiday card and we've been sending them out since 2006 (the year we got engaged).  I have all of our old cards saved in a giant scrapbook I have of B&I full of random quotes and funny stories and our anniversary year-in-reviews for our kids someday to look back on how cheesy and adorable we are (HAH).

If you're interested, take a peek at some of our Christmas cards from yesteryear:

2007 when I went from living in Brooklyn, NY to living with Brandon in Punxsutawney, PA

2007

 2009 when we traveled to Hawaii for vacation to visit our cousins Adam&Lea.

2009

2010 - our first baby's first Christmas.  eek, those sweet baby cheeks and big shining eyes.  gah.

2010

2011 - such a big year for us; Thailand, new house, new baby on the way, yeesh- I'm tired just thinking about it!

2011

 2012- two kids; lots of naughty, blissful crazy.

2012

Looking back through the years of Christmas cards is such a rush of emotion.  How much our family has visibly changed when you look back on the few snapshots we decided to use to capture a whole year in our lives.

Keep in mind, Mummas out there, that although Holiday cards generally look beautiful and flawless, they are only the highlight reel of usually a ridiculously large amount of mayhem that it took to get those few seconds in time.

And this is no exception for us at the Studer Zoo- this is what it looked like for a solid 15 minutes at our house (thank you, Aunt Uch, for your help in attempting to keep children and dogs occupied) when I went for the 'ole holiday photo shoot challenge.

2013 Christmas Card outtakes

And then, a midst the whining and antsy-pantsy, and the crazy, there was this solitary moment:

2013

Merry Holidays and Happy New Year to all of you.
I am so grateful you make some time in your day to share with me and my words.
Honestly, it is a great privilege of mine.

Sending out peace on Earth to you (if only for a moment) this holiday season.

xxox
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