I’m not sure when we started sending out holiday cards. You know, the old fashioned way, in envelops with a stamp. But, it might be 20 years that we’ve been doing it. Some parts of it are a simple process; For example, we have a digital address list and I simply print the addresses on labels.

The two hardest parts however have always been finding holiday stamps that we liked—that sounds silly, but there it is. So this year, we’re breaking with tradition and simply using the generic postage stamps that we keep on hand.

And finding cards we like. By the time we get around to starting on our holiday cards, it’s too late to really do any custom ordering. Besides, neither of us is willing to buy something we can’t see/touch. And there’s the debate about do we print a photo of ourselves to include? …and what about including a sort of “this past year…” summary letter? Or perhaps those simple photo montages with a simple holiday slogan—we’ve been getting a higher number of those in recent years and it’s nice to see everyone’s photos…

This year we decided to do something different. We spent all of the time we would have spent finding the “right” stamps and finding the “right” cards… and bought cheap-ass plain Avery card stock and spent the time making them ourselves. The card is a solid mediocre job, as far as holiday cards go. But it’s exactly the card we wanted to send out.

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