In addition to our photo Christmas cards, I think we’ll be sending a newsletter! Did your families send holiday newsletters when you were younger? Do they still send one? My family always did, and I loved it! In fact, once I was in about sixth grade, I was often recruited to write it — my Dad and I alternated years :) Even in the age of Facebook, I still LOVE reading all the letters we get from other families, families I’ve known my whole life, when I go home for Christmas. My Dad is in the military, so my parents have lots of far-flung friends that I remember from my childhood but haven’t seen in years. My sisters and parents and I have been known to sit at the kitchen table and pass the letters around the circle, discussing the neatly-encapsulated contents as we read! Our newsletters were always fairly simple affairs, graphically speaking — printed on plain paper, or maybe holiday letterhead, if my Mom was feeling fancy. I’m hoping to step up the game a bit for my and John’s debut, and am taking inspiration from these beauties I found around the internet: By Amanda Jane Jones. Go here to see more angles! Also by Amanda. More here! By Aprile Elcich. I’ll update you once ours is complete!

First and foremost: If you haven’t already, make sure you VOTE today!! It is an honor and an obligation! Believe it or not, I’m starting to think about Christmas cards! In the past we’ve sent out handmade cards (which I loved doing — see here, here, and here!), but I’m excited to send out our first photo card this year! Minted was the obvious choice, and today I’m rounding up a few of our favorites for y’all to give your thoughts on! Here are our top five choices: Yep, there’s another wedding photo peek, this time by Tanja Lippert! Above: 1. A Wonderful Life | 2. Big Joy | 3. Merriest | 4. Joyful Season | 5. Simple Joy Clearly, I have a prejudice towards typographic designs! I love that Minted’s “filter by style” tool is actually useful, with categories like hand drawn, monogram, modern, etc. – AND they’ve categorized the designs well, too! If you’re into such things, make sure you check out the new die-cut shapes available this year, as well. Minted is also running a Holiday Inspiration Board Challenge right now (fun!), and since I’ll take any excuse to make an inspiration board, I put this one together: Contest Board board by Emily. See more Minted.com Credits: Blue and green Christmas by Tobi Fairley, pretty ornaments + wrapping from Matchbook Magazine, Minted Rainbow Wish card, ornament wreath by Eddie Ross, sparkly party photo by Jill Thomas, coastal Christmas tree by Martha Stewart Living You can find details for entering your own inspiration board here! We’ve still got a bit of tweaking to do, but tell me: which Christmas card design is your favorite? I’d love to hear! Minted has graciously gifted us our Christmas cards, but I chose to write this post, and the opinions are my