This year I spent months planning these awesome handmade greeting cards that the kids and I were going to make together to send to friends and family for Christmas. It wasn’t so much about being crafty as it was about being frugal tbh. I had a wake up call this year or a serious case of Bah Humbug, not sure which, but I came up for air for the first time since the first photo card was sent eons ago and thought:

“Wait a minute? Why are we spending like $80 on Christmas cards? Aren’t those store bought holiday cards sold for like $2.50 for a box of 12 or something? This is insane.”

So I thought about doing boxed cards but then I felt like an underachiever and then Dan said “Why not have the kids make cards?” And my Pinterest Mind went nuts and came up with this whole half baked concept of having the kids decorate “ornaments” on cards for everyone and then I’d come in with fancy markers and washi tape and make them look gorgeous. The end result was… nice if you know my children. But I stuck with it and carefully made one for all the people and found gorgeous envelopes and had just enough stamps and got them all out in the nick of time. The Nick of it, I tell you.

And then a few days later my sister in law told me that hers was being held at the post office due to insufficient postage. Dismayed at the thought of ALL OF MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY being nagged and blackmailed by the Postal Service to pick up their ransom packages of half scribbled masterpieces at the post office in December when everyone knows that going to the post office in December is worse than going to Target on Black Friday… Yeah I went to a dark place.

“I’m never making Christmas cards again. Next year everyone is getting an annoying e-card posted on Facebook and if you don’t have Facebook, whatever man.  I’m done.”

I even made an ecard (see above) to post as an apology to all the people with cards being held hostage or otherwise and shared it on Facebook and then thought about getting a stiff drink and finding a chaise to faint on when a friend commented, “Oh I just got your card in the mail.”

Seriously. Did I forget a stamp? Was her card a quarter of a millimeter thicker somehow? Is the postage to Maine tremendously more expensive than the rest of the United States? What is going on guys?

How can I rant incessantly on my blog about the damned postal service and the cost of photo cards today when the whole thing might have been a one off fluke? How can I justify day drinking and fainting couches now?

The point is: Merry Christmas guys. Whether you send your loved ones carefully put together handmade cards, perfectly posed photo cards made on Minted or are wondering where you can get a chaise lounge to faint on – I hope the holidays are awesome for you and involve as few trips to the post office as possible.