'Tis the Season

'Tis the season for many things around here. Currently Rob and I are both up to our necks in school. Halfway done...woo hoo! Which for me means little time to blog. So you'll have to forgive my absence! So I don't have much time, but I quickly wanted to share a product that I thought was fairly fab, ridiculously affordable, and super fun!

Every year since we've lived in Edmonton, I've put together a family Christmas letter. I actually love the process. I always pick out my stationary the year prior, usually at a significant discount at the end of the season. I quite pleased with the paper I picked up last year. I got it at Office Depot's closing out sale for 50% off. I think it was less than $20 for enough to write 100 letters, as well as all the matching envelopes.

Last year in addition to making the letter I made up my own Christmas cards. I worked at the federal election, which included three days of the early voting polls, so that gave me plenty of time to sit and work on my Christmas cards. I think it was the first week in November. My partner thought I was crazy working on my Christmas cards, but at that point I was 8 months pregnant, and I said, "Well, its gotta be now or never!"

So I had to wait until Gabe was born before I could mail them (so I could include his birth announcement), so that didn't happen until after Dec. 10th. Plus, I had to get a picture of him for his birth announcement. Plus, um, did I mention I just gave birth? So yeah, I think they went out around December 20th, which is still fairly impressive. I was a woman on a mission! So this year, I'm back on schedule (no babies being born around here!), and I hope to have them out by the first week of December.

So to add an extra fun touch to my Christmas letter this year, I got these address labels made up. I used a company called Vista Print. They are worldwide, but have an office in Canada, so a somewhat "Canadian company." There are so many items to choose from, anywhere from photo cards (using your own photos), to calendars, to pens, to mouse pads, or you can do what I did and create caricatures of your family. It was really simple and they prompt you through the entire process.

These labels were originally $14.99, then they went down to $9.99. Then they were just free, and you only had to pay the shipping, which worked out to a grand total of $3.99 for 140 labels! I found they sent way too many e-mails (like sometimes 5 per week), but I was basically waiting to see if they would lower their price, and they finally did (originally it was working out to about $20 with shipping. Ugh!). So once I got the price I wanted, I asked to be removed from their e-mail list. I will definitely use them again next year!

I wanted to give a sneak peek at our Christmas stationary. I'm thinking this year I might mail the letter to those far away, and perhaps give cards to those people that we see more often. The idea of the letter is to give people the basics on our year, but hopefully those we see more often would just basically be hip with such things!

My Christmas stationary. I'm in love!
I only have 36 of these Christmas cards, and I gave them maybe 3 years ago. I loved them so much, when I saw them on clearance at the end of the season, I knew I had to buy more. Basically if it sparkles, I probably love it!

There you have it, a sneak peek into the Nepper Christmas letter. I'm hoping to start working on it this weekend. We have had a full year, with so many wonderful and momentous things happening. So I'll have lots to write about. I'm also hoping to get a good family picture this weekend that I can include.

Now with our family you must understand that basically everyone's grumbling before I've even pulled my camera out, so "a good family photo" really is an oxymoron! Rob's usually scowling, Abbi's crying or whining, and Gabe's basically oblivious to the entire process. So then there's me with my super grin, trying to pin the kids so they will sit still, nudging Rob to smile (not scowl), all the while trying to look somewhat normal...