One of my FAVORITE things about the holidays is receiving holiday cards with photographs of all my beloved family & friends! For the past few years, we have displayed the cards in our entry way, just scotch-taped to the wall & door, & we leave them up waaaay past New Year’s, because it’s just so wonderful to see all those beautiful smiles from all over the world!

I usually try to do our own family portraits in October, so we can send out cards by Thanksgiving (which is really my favorite holiday, because what could be more important than gratitude?). This year, we are in Taiwan, so I chose the bamboo forest in Daan Park, so we had some nature that reflected our new surroundings. As usual, it was a lot of wrangling & “herding of cats,” so the combinations of who is in the pictures is just a matter of luck. So long as we get one of the children together & one of each child, I’m overjoyed!

This year, I didn’t have my tripod, so there isn’t a whole-family shot, but the unexpected bonus was that our 6.5-year-old daughter took some GREAT photos of the hubby & me! In focus, wonderfully composed, & excellently timed! Looks like someone has been paying attention at all those shoots she got to see me do. I’m a proud mama.

Also because we’re overseas this year, I’m taking advantage of Shutterfly’s stamp-&-mail service. They charge for postage & a few extra cents per card–which means we might actually get them to people on time. Totally worth it! Plus, with the great deals they have for 10 free cards & 20% off, I think we’ve offset the mailing cost.

Even though I’ve gone eco, & we send digital greetings to many friends & family, we always send real cards to the grandparents, great-grandmas, & siblings. We know how much fun it is to have those cards be part of the holiday decorations!