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Holiday cards

chatbooks, holiday cards, Christmas cards, design your own cards

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Chatbooks though all opinions about designing your  own holiday cards are my own.

They say is a picture is worth a thousand words and, as a writer, I believe it. 1000%.  Though I am a woman of many words, I am visual whether that be held in my hands or born of my imagination.

Every year, I love to send holiday cards. For many reasons but mostly because I like to connect with friends and loved ones. I do the dance. I send a card and tell them a little about our year and they do the same.

For me, I tell people about our lives every day. It’s my job. I’ve made a career of telling the world what’s going on with me and my family.  Really, nothing is off the table. Don’t believe me? Go check out my blog or my Insta Stories.

But that is not how the world is for everyone. While I do have a lot of friends who are bloggers because that is my field, I have a lot of friends and family who are not. They don’t read my blog. Whew;) They don’t put all of their wins and losses online. So we connect in person, at family gatherings, via a Great-aunt gossip line and through those once year holiday cards.

They say it’s the thought that counts and the older I get, the more I believe that. There is truly nothing that makes me happier than thoughtful surprises in the mail. It doesn’t need to be of high monetary value, what I love is a well thought out gift. My favorite is a card with photos and a personal inscription (hey and bonus points if there’s a mixtape in there or some of my favorite tea.)

My point is that if you care enough to sift through your pictures from the past year, write a heartfelt message and wish me love and happiness that means more to me than any store bought gift ever could. This is why I do it. I hope it means as much to you that I thought of you. That you are in my heart, my thoughts and my prayers every day even when we don’t see each other.

chatbooks, holiday cards, Christmas cards, design your own cards

This is why every year, I take a day (and honestly, with Chatbooks it was a matter of minutes) and sift through my cloud and find a few pics of my family to share with my friends. Not because we did anything special or my kids are particularly good-looking (though they are pretty stinkin’ cute) but because I know that I miss your faces and your children’s faces and I want to see them grow. I want to know how things have been going for you and what is new in your family’s life.

Sometimes space and time separate us from the people who mean the most to us. But space and time can’t stop that love we feel for them in our hearts. It can’t stop the ache to know those we love.

Life is busy for all of us. We all have places to be, things to do and people to see that are right here and right now. Sometimes it’s impossible to get to where we really want to be…home.

But, just because we can’t talk to the people that we love every single day, hug them and catch up whenever we want, we don’t have to lose touch. That’s what holiday cards are to me. They are an opportunity to reconnect with those I love most. It’s a way for me to let them know that they are in my heart.

It’s an opportunity to open up the lines of communication. You know sometimes, time passes so long that it almost feels hopeless to try to reconnect. You feel embarrassed to be like, “Hey, I know it’s been years but I just wanted to say hi!”

There’s no reason to give up. I know, personally, there is no statute of limitations on friendship for me. If we were friends, unless you killed my dog, we’re still friends…forever and you and your cards are always welcome in my life.

So maybe we can’t give a lot to everyone we want to this year but we can always afford to give a quick hello. And right now, using my special code, you can get 20% off of your holiday card order from Chatbooks.

It really is one of the easiest ways to create professional Photo Books albums and Holiday Cards out of your favorite social media pictures. It’s an amazing gift to give to loved ones or a way to physically keep all of your favorite memories in your home.

chatbooks, holiday cards, Christmas cards, design your own cards

Holiday Cards are only $1 and you can order in packs of 20. The cards are made with premium and durable paper. Books start at just $10 – making them very affordable. Oh yes, I will be ordering a few. Did I mention how easy it was to create this year’s holiday cards? It seriously took me, from beginning to end, maybe 30 minutes.

If you want, you can subscribe to Chatbooks to auto-create and ship albums whenever you reach a certain number of new social media pictures. Then you will never have to worry about making the time again.

It’s so easy. Go here and click the link to order your cards now in time for the holidays.

Ordering Instructions:

  1. Go to chatbooks.com
  2. Create however many Holiday Cards ($1 each) you need, in increments of 20.
  3. Select Premium shipping so you can get your cards in time

Thank you Chatbooks for sponsoring this post and for the first time, in a long time, allowing me to get my holiday cards out before Thanksgiving.

chatbooks, holiday cards, Christmas cards, design your own cards

What are you waiting for? Order your holiday cards using my 20% off code Deborah20 and send well wishes and love to all of your friends and family.

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holiday cards, Christmas, Christmas cards,Shutterfly

Disclosure: This is part of a sponsored collaboration with DiMeMedia and Shutterfly. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

The holidays feel as if they came a little quicker this year. It definitely snuck up on me. It’s been a crazy year and with spending this autumn out of commission, it feels like I’ve missed an entire season of my life. In many ways, I guess I have. I hate missing these moments, especially the ones that involve my daughters.

Luckily, I am on the mend and feeling much more like myself these days. Thanks to television and a few over ambitious neighbors I am full-steam ahead in holiday mode. A week from today is Thanksgiving, which marks the official beginning of Christmas. Coincidently, this also is the same day that I become hopelessly behind.

For me, Christmas cards are very important because it is the one time of the year that I know I will reach out to family and friends and they will do the same. I have friends and family that I never get to see in person because of the distance between us but without fail we exchange those cards with photos of our families. Without fail, we think of one another at least for a little while once a year. It is such a small thing but it means the world to me and I look forward to seeing those photos of our friends and their families far and wide each year. It makes us feel so much closer in this great big world.

Life is a celebration, and every moment spent with family and friends is a moment worth capturing. From baptisms and quinceañeras, to Sunday gatherings and Christmas eve, “Mi Vida Shutterfly” ( Shutterfly’s new Spanish-language design offerings) helps you cherish every moment and share them with the people you love who speak Spanish.

Every year, I have this convoluted fantasy of getting our Christmas card design chosen, appropriate photos available, ordered and mailed before actual Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, since giving birth and living with actual children, I haven’t had the time that I’d like to capture those perfect pictures and get them to our loved ones in a timely fashion. Well, at least not since they’ve been able to talk and walk and do anything more than sleep. Motherhood is a full-time job that requires all of your attention and brain cells.

By the time I have actual “free time” (you know the 20 minutes after they fall asleep and before they wake back up trying to get into my bed) I’m simply too exhausted to remember that I’m supposed to be designing, ordering, addressing and mailing Christmas cards. But this year, I tried something different.

holiday cards, Christmas, Christmas cards,Shutterfly

I’ve been stuck on the couch due to my broken leg but my days are packed with deadlines. I knew I wanted to order my cards and have them ready to mail out the day after Thanksgiving so I gave myself 30 minutes one day, jumped on Shutterfly used the uninterrupted time to design our Christmas cards.

It was that simple. I chose a photo of the girls in their cute matching outfits and then I picked a photo of the whole family together this fall at my sister’s wedding (ironically it was taken about 30 minutes before I fell and broke my leg), added a couple sentimental statements and placed my order which means, for the first time in years, I will actually be mailing beautiful, personalized Christmas cards on the day after Thanksgiving instead of hand delivering them to my parents and in laws on Christmas eve like some kind of half-hearted afterthought.

holiday cards, Christmas, Christmas cards,Shutterfly

They are absolutely beautiful. I love them and can’t wait to share them with family and friends.

Shutterfly offers an easy, creative and convenient way to share family milestones. Now, its even easier to share these with your abuelita, mother, neighbor, tía and other loved ones with Shutterfly’s new Spanish applications (complete with ñ’s and accents). They’ve also added Spanish language customization and Spanish-language customer service.

Take advantage of exclusive offers and promotions visit Shutterfly.com/mivida

Also, I will be randomly choosing one reader from the comments below to win a $50 Shutterfly Gift Card. 

Giveaway ends Dec 2nd at 11:59 EST. Open to all readers over 18 years old.

Simply leave a comment below telling me what your favorite holiday card design is at Shutterfly.

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