'Twas the Night Before Christmas

We've been together for five years and have never ordered Holiday cards together.  He never wanted them.  Ordering cards seemed too much like work so I didn't care either way.  He doesn't remember this but I suggested it jokingly a few months before Christmas.  He didn't even answer he just gave me a look.  Which meant no.  So imagine my surprise when he says out of the blue around Thanksgiving he says, "We should order Christmas cards this year."  What?  I about fell out of my chair.  I was shocked but I went with it.

We decided to use a picture from Maui and ordered them from Tiny Prints.  I love the way they turned out.   They have a slight gloss to it.  The envelopes are really thick.  I didn't want a traditional holiday card.  If you want green, red and Christmas trees they have it, but they also have a huge selection of non traditional cards.  It was so hard to decide that I about lost my mind.  As usual.  I made about six samples by the time I finally picked one.  I didn't order them until Tuesday of last week and we got them yesterday.  They are kind of New Years cards too so it's fine that they won't go out until after Christmas right? 
Happy Holidays from Maui
We do all of our Christmas stuff late.  We didn't get our tree until the 14th and we'll probably take it down late too.  I didn't start any of my holiday shopping until the Monday of the week before Christmas and he waited a few days longer then I did.  I picked up one last present today.  We keep it pretty simple in my family so I know I can get away with it.  This year we did a couples gift exchange between us, my younger sister and her boyfriend and my older sister and her husband.  My little sis set it up on Secret Santa.com so that we can post our wish list and then receive an anonymous e mail saying who to shop for.   I don't want to spend the holidays running around stressing out about what to buy everyone and spending a ton of money.  We've been doing this for about the last five years or so.  At first I felt weird not buying something for my mom for Christmas especially since she can't help but get something for us even with the exchange but there is still Mother's day and her Birthday.  We gave my parents a Hickory Farms gift set to enjoy. We are adults.  We don't need a million presents anymore and the older we get the harder it is to find unique gifts for people that they don't already have.  I have a 3 year old Nephew so I send him presents and I also shop for MJ but the family gift exchange cuts down on a lot of the crazy.  I was able to do almost all of my shopping online to bypass the malls and the post office. 

I'm the worst gift giver EVER! MJ is so much better at it then I am.  I can hardly ever think of what to get anyone and then when I finally do decide I agonize endlessly over exactly which kind and usually resort to gift cards. Which are nice and all but sometimes it's nice to give something more personal.  He usually tells me a few things to choose from and if it's a good year I can usually come up with one or two things extra that might be a surprise.

I love our tree! It's nice and wide on the bottom.  I think it's the best one we've had yet.  We have a routine.  We walk across the street to the Boy Scout tree farm set up in the Elk's lodge parking lot.  MJ suggests a few trees and I protest a little that they are either too big or too expensive.  He gets the one he wants anyways and then carries it across the street to our house.  We put on Christmas carols.  He puts up the lights and the pretty star.  I pour myself some wine and then add all the rest of the ornaments and despite my fussing love the tree anyways.

I am really going to enjoy these two 12 days off from work; even though it already seems to be going by way too fast.  MJ's been baking again.  The house smells like freshly baked Apple Sauce cake and Chocolate chip cookies.  I'm trying to be a good wife so there is a hot pot of Chili simmering on the stove for dinner.    The holiday music is playing.  I need to address our holiday cards and I have one more present to wrap.  The only thing missing is a glass of wine but that's okay because I added some Bailey's Irish creme to my coffee earlier. It was a gift from my parents.

Happy Holidays to everyone!!!

12 comments

  1. Happy holidays - we do our pictures late also. Last year our card said, "Happy Everything" and was sent after christmas. It's the thought.

    Happy holidays blog buddy!!!

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  2. I love the tree. Happy holidays!

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  3. I've always wanted to order Holiday cards too but I haven't because I have this silly idea that it's better if sent as a family (that is: with kids in Santa hats and all). I'm still trying to work on that thought process because it's holding me back:-) Maybe next year.

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  4. Aw how cute! It's always about the dude it seems...they get so fussy around the holidays I find it best to "let" them dictate how they wanna roll each year. Good call on the Xmas card love! Makes everyone jealous and wish they were there in the sun instead of the snow :D

    Hope you’re celebrating a splendid holiday season so far!
    Thank you for visiting and hope to see you back soon!

    xo-Julie
    Peace. Love. LOL!

    Haute Khuuture Blog

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  5. This year I wrote all the Christmas cards and then my husband out of the blue decides that he wants to create an ecard, in the end we didn't send out any Christmas card. Your tree is so pretty and your husband carrying it home reminds me of a scene from Little Women :)

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  6. I love your Christmas card, great picture and it's awesome that you talk about adventures which you are all about. I display my cards with pictures all year so receiving it by the New Year is not so bad.

    Secret santa.com is such a great idea. I would probably get my mom a gift still but it's nice not having to stress about it. I am all about a no stress holiday.

    Merry Christmas by the way

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  7. Love the card! When I was making cards it took me forever to choose the design I wanted. I almost think too many choices is a bad thing..Haha..

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  8. Your Christmas Card is awesome! Enjoy your time off. Have a Happy New Year!

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  9. Happy holidays!
    I just came across your blog!! I am so happy I found it! I am now following! I look forward to keeping up and getting to know you more!

    xo
    Christina
    http://www.christinawhoblog.com

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  10. We've never done cards either. We are not good with cards, or thank you cards or any of that. At least your tree is up and complete. The tree got up this year but I did not get the chance to put the balls on the tree. When I suggested we do it on Christmas Day my mom said "give it up and save it for next year." LOL. Happy Holidays!

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  11. I love y'all's holiday card! Garrett and I have never sent one out. I always mean to but then I let it get too close and end up not doing it. Do y'all always get a real tree? I want to next year, we just always use our pre lit tree. In Colorado there are so many places to get real trees so we need to!

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