Wohoo! It’s Christmas card season, and y’all know I am thrilled. I absolutely LOVE Christmas, and I love receiving Christmas cards and letters. I think there’s something extra special about snail mail – but I also enjoy e-cards too! I just think it’s so sweet to take some time to send a real or virtual card to someone you care about.

I love that Hayden and I send out cards each year. It’s something that I hoped we’d do when we got married, and I’m so happy that it’s now a tradition. I will admit – it isn’t cheap. We budget to be able to send out so many cards. So, if you find yourself thinking “how am I going to afford this?!” Just start small! This year, you might just start with 10-20 and grow over the next couple of years. The price of stamps continues to grow – and nearly everything has raised in price since we sent our first card out 6 years ago. If sending out a physical card is too expensive, I highly suggest sending out an email or a text and saying “this is our virtual Christmas card.” If Prince Harry and Meghan send out virtual cards – you can too. There’s no shame!

At the end of the Christmas season, I bag up all of the cards with personal messages and photos, and I save them. I think it will be so much fun to look back on all our cards when we’re older. We save our card in a family box. Our family “divides and conquers” a lot – it helps that Hayden takes on one role and I take another. For the Christmas card, I plan and photograph the images, design the card, and write all of the addresses. Hayden’s main job is to write the letter. We both tackle figuring out updated addresses, return labels, and stamps. This is one of my favorite traditions we do as a couple around Christmas time, and Hayden doesn’t typically have too much of a preference. So, I normally pick the theme and design. It’s something I really enjoy. Although I write for a living, it’s fun for the tables to turn and Hayden writes a letter (usually one page) about our family and each family member.

Here’s the logistics that we’re using this year. I designed the cards from scratch on Indesign, but you could do the same on Canva – or likely find a pre-made template! I uploaded our design to Vistaprint for a 5×7 postcard (one side because I’m cheap!). I have our cards and return labels printed – and bonus I try to get them during a sale. I then order self sealing envelopes in a 5×7 size on Amazon (linked here). This year we are sending 200 cards – these envelopes are GAME CHANGING!!!! Do not sleep on them – even if you’re sealing 20 cards I promise they are worth it. I hand address all of the cards because I enjoy it, and because truthfully I haven’t found a way to easily (and cheaply) do it digitally. Maybe next year!

Here’s a few photos from our Christmas photoshoot – super simple, but I love it! This is the first year red hasn’t been a primary color in it, and I kinda low-key love it. Who am I becoming?!?!

Merry Christmas!!!