Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Our Family Christmas Card

I just mailed out our 2018 Christmas Cards so I'm free to share it here on my blog.    Every year I wonder if I should still mail out Christmas cards as I get fewer and fewer in return.  With everyone using social media now to send Christmas greetings, sending out an actual card isn't the popular thing to do.    It also can be very expensive and time consuming.  But, the traditionalist in me still continues to send out cards the old fashioned way.  Somehow it doesn't feel like Christmas without the annual Johnson Christmas card.  Plus, I have issues with the social media greetings. 1.  They are very impersonal,  as you can not include a individual note to each person.   2.  You can not guarantee that every friend and family member will even see your Christmas greeting on social media, unless you send out mass PM's, which people don't like.  3.  Not everyone is on social media.  I have a lot of  relatives and friends who do not use social media. So because of these reasons, I will continue to send out Christmas cards via snail mail. 

This year I did something different from previous years.  Normally, I make a handmade card, type out and print a Christmas Letter, and put a photo inside the card.  You can see last year's example HERE.   This year I printed my card on a heavy card stock and printed a Christmas letter on the back.  It saved me lots of time and printer ink, plus the cost of mailing them was cheaper as I didn't have to pay for extra postage!


The pictures I chose to use were from a summer wedding we attended.  I liked that we were all color coordinated (that wasn't even planned!) and that the background was the same in the top and bottom photos.


Having the same background in the top and bottom photo tied the entire card together.  I had my choice between a black or red background in the middle.  I went with black because the guys were wearing dark colors.


The back of the card was black with gold "stars".  I printed a family letter in white with bold print so it could be easily read even with the print in the background.  I blurred some words out of the letter in this post for security reasons.


The hardest part about writing a letter to fit on the back of the card was keeping it small enough to fit!  There was so much more I wanted to say.  I would have loved to have said more about Alethea.  Maybe next year I'll skip the job info as that never seems to change year after year, then I can include more personal stuff.


 `Even though my letter was shorter than I wanted it to be, this worked out so well for me I think I will keep doing it in the years to come.  I'm grateful that Walgreens came out with this Christmas Card option.



So what about you?  Do you still send out Christmas Cards the old fashioned way, or do you send your Christmas Greetings via social media or email?  I'd love to hear from you!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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6 comments:

  1. We still mail ours out too, and I love doing it. It does seem fewer people are doing them. I love how yours turned out!

    Amy Ann
    Straight A Style

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    1. Thanks Amy Ann! Good to hear your still mailing your cards too!

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  2. Your photo card is beautiful Amy! I started doing photo cards as well because I have received some of them over the years and thought it was such a nice idea to send to family and friends that don't see us often. I also include a handmade card, but only to people I know really appreciate them! Postage does cost so much for handmade cards, I usually end up using two stamps because of embellishments. Sometimes I wonder why I make all these pretty cards...maybe I need to start art journaling as I have soooooo many cards! I guess that's how hobbies are.
    Oh, and I am not a fan of social media greetings at all!

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    1. Thanks Ellie! I love the photo cards as well. That’s interesting that you mention art journaling. I think handmade cards are going out of style and art or bible journaling is really trending now. I just delved into the world of bible journaling and although I’ve had some hiccups adjusting to this new hobby, I’m really enjoying it. I hope to do a blog post soon about it.

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  3. That is fabulous! To receive a card like that is wonderfull! Mery Christmas!

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