Christmas Cards

Mike and I were married in the month of April. I had lots of dreamy ideas for our little life together, including places to travel and traditions to keep.

Christmas being my most favorite holiday, I wanted the tradition of sending out annual Christmas cards for our family. The December month before our wedding, I shopped the clearance aisles for the marked down Holiday cards. And that first Christmas we were married in 2004 I sent out our first annual Christmas cards.

In 2007 I broke our tradition. We were living in Indiana. I was 6 months pregnant with Cayman and still very nauseous. Mike had turned in his resignation after accepting a job offer in Ohio. We put our house up for sale, packed up and moved into my in-laws' home 160 miles away. Life was busy and chaotic that I failed to continue our 'Annual Family Christmas Card'.

In 2008 I broke the tradition again. Mike lost his job and money was too tight for purchasing cards and postage.

But this year, 2009, has been a year of rebounds for our family. Cayman has had only one surgery this year, compared to the seven she had in 2008. We are happily settled in our current residence without another move in sight *knock on wood*. Mike has a stable job that he loves. A steady income. We are slowly, but surely building our nest egg back up after last year's repercussions. And I am determined to not let another year slide by without our 'Annual Family Christmas Card' tradition.

So this year I am on top of things. Thanks to my blogging friend Tiffany I am able to continue our Christmas card tradition without breaking the bank this year. I won her giveaway for free custom made greeting cards, and I am designing our family's Christmas cards from scratch. I can tell you it's not going too well. I know very little when it comes to digital design. The cards might not turn out fancy or by far challenging to Martha Stewart's designs, but by golly, The Stamm Family will have a Christmas card in the mail this year!