Christmas Card 2010

Here is this year's Christmas Card. I just got it in the mail yesterday. Next year I really am going to do this little project earlier so I am not doing the assembly line thing late at night so late in December (when I could be knitting or sewing or wrapping presents)!  The thing that set me back this year was the idea of using a photo of the girls in their Christmas dresses. We (probably more fair to say "I" as my husband thinks it's all much ado...) didn't do that last year and maybe won't next year. But I liked the idea of having them a bit dressed, probably because the card is being mailed with Tess' birth announcement so that makes the whole thing feel more formal to me.

Because they are mailing out together I wanted the two pieces to relate to each other a bit. I contacted the designer who did my Christmas card last year, Jill Means, and worked with her on this. I loved our card last year and Jill has some great off-the-shelf designs too. The custom approach made it possible to match fonts ("Bickham Script Pro" is the one with all the ligatures--I love it! and "MrsEaves Roman"). I was originally going to try and match paper and ink colors but with two different printers, two different designers and me all in different locations I opted to package the announcement with photo in its own vellum envelope so that they are companion pieces but don't need to feel as integrated. Probably I am the only one that even thinks about these sort of things, but I can't help it!

Some wringing-of-hands later I think it all worked. It's in the mail anyway.

So about the card. I kept thinking about how fortunate I am to have the miracles of three beautiful daughters. They seem angels to me and are likely the result of some angels above. It has made me think much about the Christmas carol, "Angels We Have Heard on High," which I love. More than most carols it makes me wish for a better voice! I wanted our card this year to feel joyful and thankful and I thought about using most of the first verse of the carol but ended up with the two references--to the Gloria chorus and the "gladsome tidings" the shepherds sing. I also thought the birth announcement was another gladsome tiding to be sharing this time of year. Once again, this type of thought may be lost on all the recipients but it makes it more meaningful for me.

As a sidenote, it is so fun to see the photos of the three girls together as they look so individual! Tess actually looks quite a bit like Audrey did as a baby but her coloring is lighter. We may have a blue-eyed girl in this mix afterall!

Such a merry Christmas!