I am especially excited about Christmas this year, and strangely early. I hope this doesn’t mean I will be sick of it by Thanksgiving. For now I am going right ahead and enjoying the anticipation: I am not on board with the “one holiday at a time” philosophy, especially with holidays that are packed closely together. I can still fully enjoy autumn and Halloween and Thanksgiving while enjoying thinking about Christmas—and besides, waiting until after Thanksgiving to do anything about Christmas seems like the kind of thing a person can do when all that person has on their Christmas to-do list is “shop for my spouse, who takes care of LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE, INCLUDING THE GIFTS FOR MY FAMILY, NOT THAT MY SPOUSE IS AT ALL BITTER ABOUT IT.”
I am finding it charming that I am clearly not alone in my pre-Christmas-anticipation enjoyment: every day at the library there are Christmas books/movies on the requests list, and Christmas books/movies on my re-shelving cart. There are a whole bunch of Christmas-themed romance novels and Christmas-themed Hallmark movies, in case you didn’t know that, and those are crossing my shelving cart with increased frequency. Someone took out a book of Christmas cookie recipes and then returned it, and I’m curious to know which ones they tried. A book about simplifying Christmas caught my eye when someone requested it; when it came back I considered checking it out myself, but I leafed through it quickly and saw it was basically an online clickbait article turned into a book: no ideas we haven’t already thought of ourselves.
Right now my favorite things to anticipate are:
• Christmas lights
• Christmas cards/photos/stamps/stickers
• Christmas wrapping paper (I used the last scraps last year)
• Advent / Countdown-to-Christmas calendars
• Christmas breakfast
• Christmas specials on Love Nikki Dress Up Queen (phone game of my heart)
• Christmas mugs
Also, I have a shopping mission: I’d like to purchase a new musical snowglobe to replace the one I accidentally stored in the unheated barn the first year we moved here, when I was not remembering that there was water-encased-in-glass among my Christmas decorations.
In case we are not acquainted on Twitter, I will mention here that SEE’S CANDIES HAS PUT OUT AN ADVENT CALENDAR FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. I have ordered one. I thought about delaying the order until we were closer to Christmas, for freshness reasons, but (1) I was very worried it would sell out and (2) my guess is that they manufactured all the calendars at once, so it doesn’t matter when I get mine.
Have I already fretted here about the Christmas card photo? I tried to search for it in the archives, but I have fretted about Christmas card photos so often over the years, it makes the search difficult. Every year I take at least a picture of the kids; in recent years, as they’ve gotten older, I’ve had the energy to try for a photo that includes Paul and me as well. Last year I was too overwhelmed to face it at all, and then panicked at the last minute about skipping it and ended up putting together a two-photo collage of the photos Paul and I took from our ends of the Thanksgiving table, and that was a very satisfying last-minute solution. What I’m saying is that I do not require a GOOD photo.
But this year, Rob will not be home until Christmas. So there will not be time to take a photo with all seven of us / all five of the kids. And I am having trouble figuring out how to transition to this new stage—because it IS a new stage! Isn’t it! Because Rob will GRADUATE COLLEGE this spring, and then WHO KNOWS where he will be living, but he is clearly not going to keep coming home to pose for the family Christmas card picture! Is he! I do not travel to my parents’ house each year with my brother to be in THEIR Christmas card picture!
But what about the years between “all five kids still at least technically live at home and are in the photo” and “none of the five kids live at home and we start taking photos that are just Paul and me and, like, our dog, for whom we select a new holiday outfit each year”? Does it seem weird to send out a photo of us and four kids, as if Rob is no longer in the family, or does that seem absolutely normal and is exactly what you’d expect? Maybe we are now at the stage where we only send out a photo on the years when we’ve had a family get-together and have a photo from it. Maybe instead of taking a photo around Thanksgiving, we use a photo from any time the previous year when we were all together. Maybe I only do collage photos now, so we don’t all have to be together. That last one is probably my favorite idea for this year, since I didn’t think ahead and so I didn’t get a photo when we were all together this summer. And also, Elizabeth got a buzz cut, so she looks very different than she did this summer anyway.
In my family we (well, me, since I am In Charge) send out a collage every year of all three sisters, my mom, husbands, kids, cats, and dog. It works well. This year my sister got married so it will be a mix of wedding pictures and vaccination pictures.
I am wondering if you meant vacation pictures, but I am cracking up at the thought of a 2021 Christmas card that has a bunch of beaming people holding up their vaccination cards.
We are actually seriously considering making our New Year’s card a collage vaccination card. The vaccines remain miraculous to me.
I’m 30 and living on my own with a fiancé. My parents still put me in their Christmas card. I don’t think there’s a hard end date. I think you should put together a collage of photos so everyone is featured. I wonder if a “Brady bunch” style layout would look nice?
One of my HS classmates now has FOUR kids in college (!!) and their rule for this stage is that the kids can provide a picture for the family collage, OR they must write a paragraph for the family Holiday Letter (last year, one of the kids wrote “THIS IS STUPID” which they LEFT IN and anyway I’m not suggesting that for your group, I just thought it was funny.
Based on what I’ve seen, I think “anytime during the year we are together” seems to be most popular?
Good luck and also I would love an update on Elizabeth’s buzzcut! Ava’s soccer teammate who got hers around the same time is still loving it but doesn’t like the “fluffy” stage (I’m sure it requires a lot of maintenance?)
Elizabeth still loves her buzzcut! She has found she has to re-trim it once a week to keep it looking velour-like instead of fluffy. But we have a clippers set, so she can do it herself, and she says she’s getting quicker and quicker at it.
Actual LOL at the family that left in the THIS IS STUPID – these are my kinds of people. One year we took a ton of family photos and had only one that came out semi-decent. We put that photo on the front of our Christmas card and on the back did outtakes, which were at least one bad/ridiculous picture of each of us (including the dog) with comments. I got more responses to that card than I’ve had to any other card ever because everyone knows the pain of the Christmas card.
Also four kids in college makes me feel like breathing into a paper bag – the expense – WHEEZE
My brother and his family have kids in their mid-20s and they send out a photo of any time they were all together in the previous year. Sometimes it’s a vacation they all took together, sometimes it’s a wedding they all attended, once it was a father’s day brunch, etc. I think that’s what I’d do.
I vote for the collage. I love collage photo cards, and it seems much easier to feature everyone that way. Maybe Rob would even send a photo of himself from college to include?
My parents are this year sending out a photo featuring themselves and my daughter (their only grandkid). (My mom asked beforehand if it was okay and whether it would be weird.) That’s a (FUTURE) phase of card sending I hadn’t anticipated! Not saying any child must produce grandchildren, but with five kids perhaps your chances are good!
This is what my parents do—two pictures—one of themselves and one of the grandkids. Or one of everyone if we were lucky enough to get it. I usually force everyone to get a photo together because it makes my mom happy (though everyone else acts put out). With 5 cousins 10 and under, it’s hard!
Hmm. I haven’t had to face this yet, as Noah comes home for Thanksgiving and we get a picture then. I guess we’ll either have the kids contribute a photo of themselves or switch to some other format (adults only? no photo?) when they’re both on their own.
For this year, I’d go with a collage of individual photos or people in different combinations that includes everyone.
For your Christmas card photo- How about a screen shot of the whole family on a zoom? That way Rob will fit in the same as everyone else. You can make it holiday themed- e.g. everyone wearing a Santa hat. Bonus- your can do this well in advance.
Collage/Zoom/Anytime you were all together is what I see most
I usually do collage photos of my 2 kids, maybe some pets. If we get a decent family photo at some point during the year, I’ll use that as one of the pictures in the collage. Last year, I didn’t have any decent photos of the kids so I thought maybe I would just skip a year. But, I LIKE sending holiday cards. So late in the game I came up with an idea for a card that referenced the pandemic. And then, ironically, those cards got delayed and so they went out even later than I had wanted but made for a perfect ps to write on the card.
This year I already have plans. I just need to find some outdoor Christmas decorations to stick the kids in front of. Or maybe we will just go to a Blaine’s or Menard’s that has a huge Christmas tree display already up and running. That way I can get the cards done early and in the mail before any huge delays start happening.
My kids are 19 and 16 and are mostly over the Christmas card picture thing. I think I can wrangle it for about 2 more years and then I don’t know what I’ll do. Or maybe the kids will swing back around and be willing to indulge me with a photo. I remember sitting for photos for my grandmother when I was in college. It was a “tradition” that my brother, sister and I would sit in front of her fireplace for pictures. There are 2 decades of pictures of us in front of that fireplace.
I enjoy doing the multi-photo cards and do my best to include all 4 family members with it generally ending up being a really good photo of each kid individually then MAYBE a photo of all four of us and/or parents together or parents with kids(s). They are generally the best pics from throughout the year.
ALSO, I realize this is a different but related topic but I wanted to suggest a Universal Yums subscription for a possible gift idea—maybe for Rob or William? We were gifted one box last year then gave a small box 3 mo subscription and both were huge hits. It was really fun to try new snacks and treats and there was no pressure to determine that a certain flavor/type just wasn’t out taste. I’m already thinking about who we can gift one to again this year.
I think it’s smart to think ahead to Christmas already, everyone’s been saying this could be another year of shipping delays!
Our friends with multiple kids in various stages of being home seem to gravitate toward both collage-style AND “any time we were together” style, so it’s a lovely collage of different groups of the family members as they managed to be together in various groupings throughout the year (often including last xmas, I think!).
Personally, I love receiving photo cards in ANY format, so I’m definitely not picky or judgey about how the photos came to be. I am super impressed when people are organized enough to do a dedicated themed shoot in time for xmas since I am… not.
I agree with this. I love sending and receiving holiday cards and I love everyone’s photos, whether they are all candid snaps or a staged photo shoot. There is no right way to do it, it’s all good.
I have an issue where the (oldest) child who is not around for photos is my step child (and I am definitely in charge of cards/photos) so I am very anxious about sending a card without her in the photos. It seems like the ultimate evil stepmother thing to do! But she’s just NEVER HERE anymore. Maybe I’ll recycle photos from last year? Would anyone notice?
“Hi oldest child! I’m working on the Christmas card and don’t have a good group photo with you in it; do you have any favorite pics from the year I could include?” Then she can either contribute for a collage or say “don’t worry about me” and then it’s not evil stepmother.
I have definitely recycled photos of siblings whom I rarely see in the family photo calendar. If I see my sister twice during the year, odds are low that I’ll get even one good photo of her. But our parents appreciate her making at least one appearance in the annual calendar and I don’t think either of them notice when the same pic pops up a couple of years apart.
I love your unapologetic approach to getting excited for Christmas well in advance. Due to some difficulties in our family the past several weeks, I just realized how close we are to Halloween. Christmas will be here in no time.
We often choose a photo from a time we were together during the year- usually an outdoor summer photo and most likely a time when we were on vacation.
My folks send out a pic with as many of the 22 grandkids and their 5 kids/spouses as they can gather. In years past, she has included an additional photo of people who were missing in that pic- usually on the back or inside the card.
We had a great family pic taken over the summer. Very casual but instantly chose it as the Christmas card photo. We had to switch gears. . . . long, sad story, but we were together tailgating over the weekend and I made it my mission to get a new photo.
I am not quite ready to jump in to Christmas, but I am ready to start prepping for it. I shop for Christmas starting around July (before that too many family members have one or more gift giving holidays for it to work) and around Halloween is when I pull out the gift storage box and really assess where I’m at. As a result, this is when I start thinking Advent calendars, homemade decorations and/or gifts and anything else that is for the start of the season or requires lead up time.
On that note, I’m super excited about our advent calendar this year. I bought a story calendar from Love Pop. Pricey, but since it’s for the kids to do together not that much more. And cheaper than last year when I splurged on a Lego advent calendar for both of them. That was probably pandemic times lunacy.
https://lovepop.com/collections/advent-calendars?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=14967671753&gclid=CjwKCAjwq9mLBhB2EiwAuYdMtZapek1QYsC0tM4-FzoMVHxH3DG8iajNhNKa-uOJwnoqvztLvFZa0xoC-2wQAvD_BwE
My in-laws do a multi-picture card that includes them, all of their kids, and all of their grandkids. So usually like 4-6 pictures. I think their friends like seeing the update, anyway. My husband and I are childfree, so I do a collage of pictures of the two of us, solo pics, and of course, the dog. :) My pet peeve is when we get cards of JUST children. I want to see the adults, too!
I am already well prepared for Christmas, my propensity for catastrophising as well as living at the bottom of the world (New Zealand) during a global supply crisis means I have already bought everything for my two kids, excluding snacks for their stockings.
This year I’m doing Kraft paper for wrapping in the effort to be a bit more environmentally friendly and the genius thing about this is they come in half width rolls which make wrapping smaller things infinitely easier. It is the perfect width for things like books and avoids the super messy edges I always get with excess paper from bigger rolls (I can never be bothered adequately trimming).
I also think it’s totally normal to have a photo without Rob or you could do a Brady Bunch type thing with all the family in individual shots and then a group photo if you really wanted to include him.
You could take a picture AT christmas and send out happy new years cards! I like getting off-season cards because then you get a smile at another (sometimes dark and dreary and cold) time of the winter!
I am VERY EXCITED that you shared about the See’s advent calendars,thank you!
As some of the others have mentioned, a picture of all of you at some point this year is good and/or a collage would work. I got so desperate the year we moved here; that when we had an un-expected snow storm prior to Christmas, I took a picture of our new house surrounded by the un-touched snow and used that for the Christmas card.
CHRISTMASSSSSSSSSS I AM HERE FOR IT
We regularly get collage cards from people with adult and adultish children and honestly it’s fun. My stepfathers sister used to send one with a picture of every kid and grandkid.
Thank you for the sees heads up! I went down and bought the advent calendars today!
This year: a collage sounds good. Buuuut maybe take a group photo at Christmas that you could use for next year’s card? ;-) (honestly: moving forward, collages are probably the way to go if you can extract photographs from your progeny, which *is* a big IF)
Oh! Also I again have two immune-problem friends who will be having solitary Christmases again, which means I am in full Present Box For Advent mode, which means there is a lot of Christmas ordering right now and it is delightful (as well as occasionally hair-pulling-y because online ordering and combining shipping costs and wait that won’t get here until January, etc.)(but mostly: so. much. fun). I do not expect to get tired of it, because there are gaps and waves in the Christmas planning and doing, and I am not listening to Christmas music yet, just making plaaaaans…
This is somewhat off-topic but I remember at one point Elizabeth wanted little beauty samplers. Well, I was looking at advent calendars today and found the LOOKFANTASTIC advent calendar. It’s a little pricey ($115) but it’s PINK. I am about to order some See’s calendars as well! If it weren’t for you I’d probably have missed them. I think I will use mine as a countdown to Thanksgiving, so the candies don’t go bad. Plus, I need the holiday cheer more in November.
I have seen a few done with the currently absent child or children photoshopped in, in an obvious/ humorous/ ironic way, and I am a fan of that
When I think of how my parents handled it during the college and early 20s years, the card always had a picture from some point in the year when we were all together (usually a family summer vacation photo, since once we were all in college that was the only time we were all together). But even when we were little kids living at home it was still usually just a candid summer vacation photo that went out with the Christmas cards. My parents rarely did staged/professional photos.
Now that we are all adults with our own children, my parents make a point of taking a group picture of their grandkids at whatever point in the year we all get together (again, usually a summer family reunion) and they use that as their card. Us adult children are no longer featured on the cards, we have been passed over for the next (cuter) generation. I don’t know what will happen when this batch of kids grows up.
I don’t usually get my act together in time to do advent calendars, but this year I’m doing early and MINIMAL and a group of advent calendars came across my radar (OK, Instagram) so I ordered four of them. They’re from the UK so, in addition to being kind of expensive, the shipping is A LOT. On the other hand, they are beautiful, and I bought four (one of each style) to give to my sisters and our daughter. This will also serve as a card and gift for my sisters, so DONE by December 1 for them. Here’s a link if you’re interested.
https://angelaharding.co.uk/collections/cards
Thank you for linking to the See’s advent calendar! I just ordered two. My Mom’s birthday is 12/2 and she LOVES chocolate so this will make a great birthday gift for her.
Yes, I’m getting excited about Christmas! I’ve got a lot of my shopping done already. I even impulsively bought a sock advent calendar for myself with 12 pairs of cute socks to open (think Christmas llamas and sloths on donuts). For the kids I used a sturdy cardboard calendar each and fill the drawers with chocolates that they like, with a bigger treat for the last day.
I am a photographer and have still had to resort to a collage some years. Last year I used a family photo I took in early October instead of a purpose-taken shot in the snow later. I have one of those in the wings this year in case I get itchy to do the Christmas cards before the snow flies again. If I had a kid who was gone off to school and I didn’t get a chance to take a family photo from, say, the last quarter of the year, I’d have them send me a photo and either photoshop them in or collage them within the 4×6 print.
I’ve also seen someone post that they commission a sketch of their family for holiday cards. Was it Linda from Sundry Mourning maybe? Off to see if I can find it, because that would make it easy to incorporate different people who weren’t physically in one picture…
I have friends in their 70s or 80s and their Christmas card is always a collage of photos of them and their children and grandchildren – one photo from each family. One year they were all together in person in the summer and so used that photo.
Another friend has 2 adult children and 2 teens at home. They have still managed to have a photo of all 6 of them on their card. They did learn not to include a girlfriend, since she was later broken up with.
I like including separate pictures of my kids, and for years I’ve chosen the most characteristic picture— one of them laughing like crazy or playing a sport or concentrating on a book or eating ramen or whatever—rather than a posed picture. I think it gives recipients a better sense of who they are. As teens they grumble but so far haven’t forbidden it.