A Little Pre-Christmas Cheer

With Thanksgiving all but here, Christmas and its associated preparations are not that far behind. As a matter of fact, Christmas stuff was available for purchase a few days before Halloween. I had been at Target trying to wrap my mind around the fact that another holiday season was up on us when I spotted these:

Guess who?

Holiday cards have definitely been on the brain. The girls Christmas dresses are in pre-production, and I hope they will be delivered in time for me to get them photographed for our annual card. I opened our Christmas addressee list from last year and found myself adding names to our already multi-paged document. The prospect of the Christmas card assembly line (cards, envelopes, stamps, return address labels, address labels, stuffing, and licking) already makes my blood pressure spike, but I always look forward to the satisfaction that comes with slipping the wad of cards into the mailbox.

I was reading the latest issue of Real Simple magazine the other day and the etiquette dilemma of the month was the following:

In a world with constant Facebook updates, isn’t the ritual of sending holiday cards obsolete?

It was like the magazine had been reading my mind! Seriously! When I uploaded the photos of the girls in their Halloween costumes, part of me thought, “Crap! Now what am I going to put on the Christmas card?! Everyone’s already seen this.” In our everyday goings on, don’t we bombard one another with every hiccup, burp and fart by way of photo, YouTube link or Foursquare update? We could save ourselves a whole bunch of time, effort, and potential fatal envelope residue poisoning by just uploading/Tweeting/list-serving, right?

I thought about skipping the cards altogether for some pretty practical reasons — cost, cost, and cost. We are in a recession, right? What about “going green”? Maybe I can just send out an e-card and save time, money and trees. The etiquette expert in Real Simple was of a similar mindset, until her spouse asked her what other time honored rituals she was going to axe next (Trick-or-treating? Hunting for Easter Eggs?). Couple that with a dear friend of mine who is living abroad this year, imploring her friends to send her holiday greeting so that she can decorate her home with the smiling faces of the friends and family she’s left behind. Who can say “no” to a request like that?

Truth be told, I love getting Christmas cards, too. Instead of draping my mantel with garlands of greenery, I tape up the Christmas cards we’ve received **koff, koff** so get up off a card**koff,koff*.

The final ~~paper cut~~ straw came as I was reading the newest blog posts from my blogroll. I’m not the only one thinking about Christmas, cards, and holiday greetings. As it turns out, over at Little Page Turners, they’ve got Christmas cards on the brain and are carrying the banner for the return to the Christmas card by touting Shutterfly’s blogger promotion for 50 free holiday cards.

What the what?!

Awww, yeah. Shutterfly is currently offering bloggers a 2010 Holiday Card collection promotion. Click here to learn how you can contribute and receive 50 free holiday cards. We’ve used Shutterfly in the past for our Christmas cards((http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards), so I can say that they’ve got a great selection of templates, sizes, and options for whatever you would like your holiday card to convey. We usually go with a photo or several of the girls — really, y’all don’t want to see my smiling face year after year — after our pilgrimage to the Picture Peeps or Portrait Innovations. This year, I’m going to do it myself. I’ve got a few ideas in mind, but barring that, you may see some photos that already debuted on Facebook.

Just act surprised when you open the envelope.

IN: ON: November 22, 2010 TAGS: give away, holidays, winter BY: Hilary

Winter Storm 2010: Day 4

So, Norfolk got its biggest snowfall in. . .well, in a really long time. The thing is, I’m from New England, so to quote Shania, “That don’t impress me much”. The Friday before the storm, I had been out running errands, getting a haircut and what not, but everywhere I went, there was incessant chatter about this impending storm.

I texted DH to find out whether or not we should grab some basic groceries to tide us over during whatever precipitation may fall. He said he’d pick up a few things on his way home, but if I could get a shovel, that would be great. Despite my having lived in Virginia for a number of years, and my knowledge that once the word “snow” is uttered a veritable Pandora’s Box of chaos is opened, I carried my happy hips to Dante’s 7th circle of retail hell — you know it as Wal-Mart. That being said, who thinks I got a shovel?

Fast forward to 7:15am Saturday morning. We’re awakened by Co’s sweet dulcet tones of, “Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy! There’s snow! There’s snow!” And oh boy, was there. There was close to six inches already on the ground and it was steadily falling. Mo and Co were frothing at the mouth in their excitement to get outside. Now, being that we live in “the South”, we don’t have snow gear. There have been times over the last few years that I entertained the notion of buying snow pants and boots, but every winter season, there hasn’t been enough snow on the ground to warrant long underwear, let alone a full on zip up suit. Yeah, I was kicking myself this year.

Mo and Co looked like little hobos as they took to the front yard to play in the snow.

I love our street. It’s got great families that are always ready with a smile, a cup of sugar to lend or a magazine to swap. While bad weather would have most folks retreating under their comforters, our street was busy making snowmen, having snowball fights, and one neighbor had a fire pit going in his driveway. Oh, and I must clarify — contrary to popular opinion, I didn’t lose a bet with DH, nor did he “make me” shovel the front walk. We got a shovel and I decided to put it to use.

The weather really did a number on Norfolk, despite all the warnings of its imminent arrival. Roads were impassable, church was cancelled, playdates had to be rescheduled and school! Ugh, school has been closed since Monday. Cabin fever and the winter doldrums have set in with a quickness and a thickness. Any quick peek on Facebook will show you just how over this whole thing we really are. My favorite status update said, “No school again tomorrow? just inject the effing booze directly into my veins,” followed by “Yeah, now it’s getting UGLY. . .my bag o’ tricks is empty. . is this what it was like for the Donner party?”

I suppose I should count my blessings. My sophomore year in high school found us having had so much snowfall, and having missed so much school, we couldn’t have final exams. We’d been out of school more than we’d been in that semester. Now, that’s a lot of snow.

Anyway, I thought with the storm behind us, it would be business as usual on Monday. I was all set to go to the Y, but Wavy 10 showed crack up after crack up on the roads and I thought, “Are 4 miles on a treadmill worth the risk of wrapping my fender around a light pole?” Nahhhh. So we’ve been house bound. I haven’t let the girls go outside because Mo has a hacking cough that makes me think she’s been puffing on Marlboros at school, while Co’s nose is running like Usain Bolt. Needless to say, the mood at Chez Dixon is on the decline.

We’re running out of patience with each other, we’re running out of food — one loaf of bread, one gallon of milk and one gallon of Breyer’s Butter Pecan doesn’t go very far — and we’re running out of activities. This morning, they were up at 7 and we’ve had breakfast, thoroughly cleaned our rooms, braided hair, changed clothes, did some arts and crafts, read library books, had a snack, had some more snack, had a little bit more snack, they constructed a castle out of Legos for their Barbies, and then I put them in the tub, telling them it was summer in the winter time and they were mermaids.

I think it is now 9:15am. Time to turn on the Backyardigans.

Maybe it’s the cabin fever or maybe I’m just cranky, but if school is closed tomorrow and the sun doesn’t come out, I’m personally delivering a can of whoop ass to Mother Nature — believe it.

IN: ON: February 2, 2010 TAGS: nerves, winter BY: Hilary

Hilary With One L

Hilary With One L

Tag: winter

A Little Pre-Christmas Cheer

Winter Storm 2010: Day 4