Yes, I know we are supposed to 'respect the turkey' and Thanksgiving hasn't happened yet. But Christmas is going to be here before we know it and it's time to get those cards ordered! This year I achieved my personal dream of our entire family in matching Christmas pajamas from Hanna Andersson. Yep, even Nate. He didn't put up much of a fight, resigning himself to the fact that he married me and therefore matching pajamas were kind of in our vows at the alter. Seriously, I've wanted to do this for years and now that our family is complete it was time to make it happen! And Nate knew this would make me happy, plus I ordered them while he was gone on a four night work trip to San Diego. He really had no choice in the matter while I was caring for his children and he was in sunny California, sleeping through the night and enjoying peaceful silence in the evenings. So there, Nate. Striped leggings are a payback!
Instead of having professional family pictures taken this year, I just set up the tripod and snapped a few shots one Saturday morning. I knew a true photo shoot in a studio or outside would NOT be happening with Nate's skin-tight striped leggings, so a make shift home shoot would do just fine. I was sweating, I really need to get a remote for my camera, and it was fairly painful like most family photo shoots tend to be with three small children. I figured that even if I only got one half-way decent shot, the pajamas would be cute enough to make it Christmas card worthy. And I did get a few acceptable images that morning;)
Three kids at Christmas time!
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Love them so.
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A winner, right here:
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#PorterTheElf
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Strategic baby placement throughout these images--we knew we would not get any standing up shots of our family! ;)
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LOL at Truman and Cecelia. What in the heck is going on? Why is mom running back and forth and yelling about the camera timer process?
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Best we could do. Porter would not smile and I'm glistening in sweat but whatever!
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I wanted one with the kids and at this point, everyone was obviously over it.
![IMG_4587](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7461/15715742496_77d7e0612f_c.jpg)
Then for the cards, I went with Pear Tree Greetings yet again. They have been awesome to work with in the past for Christmas cards, Valentines cards, Cecelia's first birthday, and Porter's birth announcement, so when they contacted me about Christmas cards it was a no-brainer. Their quality is always top notch and I love how our cards turned out this year. I chose a much simpler Christmas card this year compared to the folded card I chose last year, but I really just wanted a flat card with two images and a text box. The Moveable Cheer Vertical card was my winner this year. A picture of the kids is plastered on the front, our family picture is slightly smaller on the back (and Nate's leggings are barely visible), and I wanted to do a little update on our year, similar to how my mom would always send out Christmas letters growing up. If you are dying to know, this is what my mini-letter says:
"Merry Christmas! 2014 was a big year for the (Goolia) family. Truman turned four, Cecelia turned two, we celebrated seven years of marriage, and then Porter was born on 7.11.14. After an awesome maternity leave, Julia returned to work part-time as a PT, Nate switched clinics as a full-time PT, and Truman started Junior Kindergarten. Our first Christmas as a family of five (plus Henry dog!) will surely be memorable and full of incredible, happy noise. We hope this year has been kind to you, too. Cheers!"
The colors on our card really pop, the gold glitter polka dots make me happy, and I love the little foil logo at the bottom, too. Success!
(Spoiler alert for friends and family who will be getting these in their mailboxes shortly!)
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Pear Tree Greetings is going to give one lucky reader a $50 off coupon code to use on your favorite card. Take a look around their many options for Holiday photo cards (or no photo, if that is your thing) and enter the Rafflecopter below. I will draw a winner on Saturday, November 29th and will post it on my Facebook page and in the Rafflecopter box below. Best of luck and have fun card shopping!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
New to commenting! Love the card and pjs! We had family pics done in May! I am a fellow cold weather mama from MN so our look like they were done in fall not spring!!
ReplyDeleteWe'll be lucky if we get a decent family photo this year with our 18-month old fireball, but I love, love, love Pear Tree Greetings!
ReplyDeleteSeriously love those cards!!! I also love the Oval ornament cards!
ReplyDeleteWe did our own pics last year of 2 kids in Hanna pjs and that was stressful enough. 3 kids + parents...thinking about that photo shoot gives me hives!
ReplyDeleteI love the Joy Doodle cards! Assuming, that is, that we can get a decent family pic!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely adore all of their card selections! Trying extremely hard this year to get a family picture with all 4 boys looking at the camera & smiling (at least no crazy faces)
ReplyDeleteWe love sending out christmas cards & this year we actually splurged on professional photos! :)
ReplyDeleteI'd love the Foil Joy Wreath Tri-fold...and yes we get a picture every years!
ReplyDeleteLove the stripes!
ReplyDeleteI took some photos of my boys back in October and had the perfect trifecta in one - they were both smiling, looking at the camera and my settings were right on (I've been trying to shoot in manual). I'd love a gift card to pear tree greetings to get our cards!
ReplyDeleteSuper cute! We got the same pajamas this year, but not for us grown ups! We got lucky with Christmas cards since I just got bens newborn photos done! I can't wait to see how they turn out and then turn them into a card!
ReplyDeleteOh my... I've been wanting to do the Hanna Andersson pj thing for years as well. This year I finally bit the bullet and bought them. Not the cheapest with 4 kids. I have also been contemplating of buying them for my husband and myself for Christmas morning but I KNOW that he won't like it. Well, and then I read your comment about your husband being in sunny California... That's exactly where my husband is right now on a conference trip for 4 long days. Sunny, 75 degrees, beach in front of his hotel, etc. While I am home alone with the 4 kids in cold Ohio ;-) So yep, we are so doing this! Thanks :-)
ReplyDeleteI'd pick sparkle and shine. Love the jammies!
ReplyDeleteIt would be awesome to win this! I would love to send out a personalized Christmas card this year!
ReplyDeleteI just love Christmas cards... sending and receiving them! I just had maternity photos done (due with my first shortly before Christmas), so I am hoping to quickly get a maternity Christmas card out before baby comes! I love the Pear Tree designs!
ReplyDeleteHello from Australia! Your Christmas card looks gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteWe took photos this year ourselves as well! With a seven month old, we were happy to just get a few good shots. haha
ReplyDeleteWe are actually having some family pics taken today, and I am hoping to end up with one that is worthy of a Christmas card :) Love your cards, they are super cute!
ReplyDeleteCute card! Love the jammies.
ReplyDeleteI usually just do pictures of a big event or events from the year. But, this year we finally got family pictures taken and I'll be using those.
ReplyDeleteLove the designs. Family photos always stress me out, and my mom usually does it day after Thanksgiving. We may not have the dog this year, because, my head will explode.
ReplyDeleteWe take them ourselves or have a friend take them, no professional here. We were supposed to take it today but rain decided otherwise.
ReplyDeletesuper cute card! I got matching hannah anderson jammies for the girls this year, and was crazy excited about it.
ReplyDeleteI love their magnet cards the best. All our family loves them!
ReplyDeletejessicarwarfield at gmail dot com
Love the card AND the jammies! Have a beautiful and joyous Thanksgiving!!
ReplyDeleteI did a little photo session with the kids this year for our cards. Love how they turned out!
ReplyDeleteLittle Porter as an elf is Too Much! ;)
ReplyDeleteI had a Pear Tree Christmas card go viral on Pinterest/Facebook/BuzzFeed when my husband was deployed, so I am partial to that design! They have such cute stuff.
ReplyDeleteI"m having the hardest time narrowing it down past three! But I need to choose soon! We get our family photos taken every year, even if it's just a family member taking them for us.
ReplyDeleteI love that you can write a short note on the cards to update everyone! Your cards look great!
ReplyDeleteI need to start thinking of this. I have a new little one who is 5 months now and I was hoping to use the newborn pics we had done but now they just seem outdated!
ReplyDeleteLove the Christmas jammies! It would have to take some pretty strong convincing to get my hubby to wear something like that. Some day though... :) I love that you did a family update on your Christmas cards - I've never seen an option like that before! Must check that place out!
ReplyDelete