Silent Night, Holy Night

{Bear with me. I understand that the leaves just changed on the trees and I promise I'm not skipping fall and jumping straight to December. There's an alternative motive in me posting this...which I'll tell you at the end.}

No, I'm not talking about Esther Grace sleeping the whole night through. (Although she did sleep until 8:45 this morning! Woo-hoo!) I'm talking about Christmas! I'm so excited! You may not know this about me but when I first met Brooke, my sis-in-law, and we roomed together at UGA, I had a countdown on my calendar until Christmas. And it was May. No joke.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I do. I just can't help myself. It's a family genetic trait as far as I'm concerned and I've got both sides of the tinseled tree covered. My MeMaw loved it. Mom loves it. They've always done the designer holiday with white lights, ornaments that are coordinated with the living room, wrapping paper that coordinates with the ornaments, and desserts that only appear once a year. We're talking divinity, homemade (from scratch!) German chocolate cake, coconut cake, etc. On the flip side, my Nana loves it. She has gone the more traditional route with colored lights, red, green, and gold ornaments, and she always has a carafe of apple cider. Mmmmmmm.

Bear, on the other hand is what you would call...um....a humbug. I'm ashamed to admit it but he has got the worst ability to get into the Christmas spirit. He can't stand the commercialization of it at all, with which I whole-heartedly agree, but it bleeds over into other areas. Jonah's first Christmas we took him to ride the Stone Mountain train and I thought Bear was going to just sit in the car. He was SO against it. I pleaded with him to just try it. What did they do on the very. first. stop? The little lady welcomed everyone and said that before we began our trip, she wanted to take the time and tell us the true reason for Christmas: God's gift of Jesus. God coming to man because we can't come to Him. Sweet. (And score 1 for Kristen.)

Over our almost 7 years of marriage, I've won Bear over bit by bit. And he's won me over to his way of thinking on many things too. One thing I love to do is send Christmas cards- especially since we have so many family and friends that live so far away. I'm pretty sure we didn't send one last year since we sent out Esther Grace's birth announcement so close to December so this year I can't wait! We've already had a family photo session with David & Stephanie from Speedbump Love. (Wonderful photos, cheap price tag. Cute story behind the name.) Now the daunting task of choosing a card that's cute but also includes the true reason for why we celebrate our Lord's birth....and without it looking like it came straight from the Renaissance period.

Sidenote: Have you ever noticed that? If Jesus is included, why does it always have to look like it was printed straight from one of the Ninja turtles? Not that there's anything wrong with that....

So. Shutterfly.com has a great assortment of cards and they're reasonably priced too! And I love that I can download my favorite pictures myself and don't have to wait on a third party to do it. Mainly because they'd probably pick a picture of me that would make me look fat and we can't have that. ;) Here are some of my top picks-

If I follow Nana and go the traditional route.....

Love this one because I can put so many pictures of the kids on it!

Love this one with the many names of Christ on it. Mmm-nothing gets me through the hustle better than to call on His name. And the passage is from Isaiah!

I like this one too. Gosh- so many choices!

I dressed our family in chocolate brown and different shades of blue for our family pictures. (Note to Self: Check out the cards before the pictures next year.) So, if I decide to go with a coordinated style more befitting of Mom and MeMaw....

I've always loved pictures of the star of Bethlehem because I feel like the Lord gives me a "star" everyday to encourage me to keep pursuing Him. He just makes Himself so real! I also like this one.....at least it's got brown in it, right?

But I'm pretty sure the winner is.....

Act surprised when you get it if you're on our list! ;) And I promise we'll put pictures of us on it too.

But the goodies don't just stop at cards. They have calendars too, which make great presents for grandparents or anyone who loves those baby pix. And you can also order your pictures as a canvas! I think this is the coolest and looks just like those rooms in the Pottery Barn catalog I'm always drooling over. What are you planning on doing with Shutterfly.com this year?

{Now for the real reason for this post. Shutterfly.com has offered 50 free cards in exchange for this review. Go on over and check out the promo!}