Brown Paper Packages

It felt as if Christmas had actually come when I saw this brown paper package sitting on my doorstep.

I love brown paper packages.

Especially when they’re wrapped up with strings.

Actually, they’re a few of my favorite things.

Wait.

That’s a song. One of my favorite songs. About my favorite things…

Another one of my favorite things is knowing that the annual 14 hour Christmas card photo shoot is finished.

It’s never an easy task.

When my girls were little I’d have spent hours finding the perfect matching dresses, with smocking of course, to be worn with shiny patent leather shoes and darling bows to adorn their precious little heads. The Christmas music would be singing in the background as I tried to get two squirmy little girls to sit still long enough, not mess up their hair…or bows…without fighting with one another AND smile 562 times for what seemed like 2 hours until I could capture the “magic picture”.

Fun times.

I would always imagine how much easier it would get as they grew older.

Um.

Well, there are no more matching dresses or patent leather shoes. The Christmas music has been nixed. I now have two squirmy big girls who do care if their hair is messed up in between 562 smiles…

and one looking at the camera while the other one is looking at her sister…

oh…and now the other one is looking at the camera while the other one is looking…

…well, not at the camera.

Then neither of them are looking at the camera.

And now? Well, I think I’ve lost them.

But then they give me this…

And I breathe a sigh of relief.

Does anyone else go through this every year?

I’m exhausted.

Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen, there’s always the next part.

The actual card part.

Well guess what? For me, that was the easy peasy part! You know why? Because of this nifty online greeting card company called Cardstore.com. They have everything imaginable.

Check out these darling gift tags…

That come in those darling brown paper packages!

AND they’re printed on the back.

How cool is that?

I also decided to order Thank You notes!

Aren’t they just darling?

Now if I could just get all of my Christmas shopping done.

Enough about me. Now it’s time for you!

I’ve got a $50 giveaway from Cardstore.com! If you haven’t done your Christmas cards, well then, now’s the time! It only takes a few days for these beautiful cards, wrapped in brown paper packages, to arrive! And if you’ve already conquered the task, well no worries, Cardstore.com has you covered in all other occasions as well! Just leave me a comment below telling me if you have or have not finished your Christmas cards this year.

The giveaway begins today December 9, 2010 and will end on Monday December 13, 2010 at Midnight EST. One lucky person will be randomly selected and announced sometime on Tuesday December 14 2010. Good luck!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Feliz Navidad! Happy Holidays!

Wenderly

(Cardstore.com is sponsoring this giveaway and is providing the $50 code for one lucky winner to enjoy!)

Wenderly

Married my soulmate. Mama of 2. Love to inspire. Can't help but to relish in all things beautiful inside & out. Join me in Savoring the Art of Living.

34 Comments

  1. I LURVE things in brown packaging with strings! This is just perfect timing because as usual I have NOT done my cards yet {I have 3 to round up into one picture and I imagine herding cats would be easier}

  2. oooo, my picture is done. It only took me 6 shots and that included 2 teens and a dog! 2 out of 6 were great! How lucky am I. Now I need the cards. Merry Merry!

  3. Yes – your pictures are wonderful! I love the idea of thank you notes. I have not sadly finished my Christmas cards yet – usually I am done by now. Sigh!

  4. Your cards came out wonderful. I haven’t used that company yet, but looking forward to doing so. I haven’t had a chance to get my cards created or printed yet – I’m so behind this year.

  5. have never done a christmas mailer… i know that sounds awful… maybe this year… ive got a few days still ( while im trying to do everything else)

  6. Love the photo gift tags! I am always looking for cute holiday ideas. Will have to check out this company b/c I haven’t heard of it before and my cards aren’t done yet. (eek! I had better get moving) Love your blog.

  7. Are relatives prohibited from entering this contest? If not … consider me entered!! So cute! (the cards are kind of cute too!) 🙂

  8. I have printed up my photos, but have not written the letter that goes along with them…

  9. I have not done my cards yet!! My next blog post was going to be that very thing, and how hard it is to get a good shot of my two boys. Still working on that part!

  10. the cards are darling and those girls are cute as a button!!! getting them both in the same place at the same time and both looking in the same direction . . . priceless!

  11. LOVE the photos of my beautiful nieces!!!! My little sweetie pies!! Oh….and the Christmas cards? Heh heh–I have seven done! (Why do I ALWAYS feel it’s necessary to write a personal, meaningful note in EVERY one???!!!–well, it IS time consuming but I feel it is important to tell all how much they mean to me and I wouldn’t do it any other way!) Wouldn’t it be nice tho if I were only sending out 10 cards and I could almost be done?! HA! Merry Merry!!!

  12. GREAT cards! I love them. I laughed reading your take on the years you’ve been taking the pictures. It sounds EXACTLY like me except I threw in a baby squirmy boy. Nothing like two matching smocked dresses and a boy with the matching flannel and vest. Try getting three of them to look good! LoL. I love your picture this year, LOVE IT. The cards are gorgeous. The front of my card this year is the three kids jumping on the beach the caption reads “jump for joy” when I saw it I knew those summer pictures would work. For good measure I threw in one of them with the dog and an individual picture too (I let them each hold the dog which made them smile and made my job easier). The cardstore does beautiful work. I hadn’t heard of them until this year, thanks for holding a giveaway!

  13. Wendy – I always love reading your posts. Your girls are lovely and the card is very, well, Wenderly! Merry Christmas to you and yours!

  14. Haven’t even taken the photo yet. We are headed to a Christmas tree farm on Sunday to get our tree & take photos but it is supposed to be raining. Keeping my fingers crossed for snow instead of rain.

  15. A beautiful card and beautiful girls! I like to just pop a picture or two in Christmas cards for people, I’m not as organised as you to actually make my own cards!

  16. What beautiful cards! I stumbled upon your blog on Twitter and am thrilled to follow it now! I haven’t started my cards-it’s on my weekend to do list. Can’t wait to check out cardstore.com. Happy holidays!

  17. Love these gift tags & cards. Your daughters are darling. It’s OK that they don’t do the matchy thing any more – b/w photos really help with that 🙂 Gotta check out this card company now! xo

  18. I’ve got most of the envelopes addressed & I just finished the Christmas letter yesterday. Now I need to get some stamps!

  19. I am always the very last to send out Christmas cards. One year I finally got them out on January 5. Even the mailman looked at me funny.

  20. Well, I thought I’d be done by now… I ordered some nice cards from Apple via iPhoto, full of family pics and a recap of the year. They arrived in just two days, and looked great. Until I noticed the really stupid typo…

  21. I have been trying to decide between 3 Holiday cards and now to see what Cardstyle has….there are SO many more options! Your cards are adorable and I love the idea of thank you cards too!

  22. I have done everything for Christmas EXCEPT my cards! Seems overwhelming this year. I notice other people must feel the same way as I have not gotten as many cards this year! And I love to get them. I even make Christmas tags out of the ones that are not only photos. Wow-now I feel like I better get moving on my card… Merry Christmas!

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