Monday, December 19, 2011

A Christmas Evolution of Us





Christmas is just a few days away! I can't believe it! I'm blaming the lack of snow that exists here in Eastern Oregon for my lack of jolly Christmas spunk. Jolly or not, my favorite part of the Christmas season is the exchange of Christmas cards. Which comes at no surprise; especially if you read my post about my card/stationary addiction.

Ryan and I decided to do Christmas a little different this year, but before we share our season greetings for 2011... I thought it'd be fun to see our evolution of Christmas card pictures from the past few years...


2005
This picture was taken at my grandma's house. I was 20 and Ryan was 25. Aren't we young and in love??? We still are by the way!

This was the back of our picture. Simple and sweet. <3


2006
I can't really remember what we did for Christmas cards in 2006...
but I'm pretty sure it involved these pictures!

2007
In 2007 we used Shutterfly to create our Christmas card. We included the following pictures and a quote that is good enough to share again here, "To those we love & see each day & other loved ones far away... To all good friends who mean so much & those with whom we're out of touch... To folks who are so good & kind it's easy to keep them in mind... To people we keep close at heart even when we are apart... We sent to you this wish sincere for a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!"


This picture was taken the day we adopted Poco Bear.
On a hike to one of my favorite lakes, Van Patten.
This was taken the same day of my Grandpa's funeral. I'm not sure why I thought it was a good idea to have a picture taken after crying all day. We are in front of my grandparents fireplace in their basement. 

2008
In 2008 we used a card from Leanin' Tree.  You can click here to see the exact card that we used. It has been my favorite card so far. The greeting inside the card read "It wouldn't seem like Christmas if we couldn't get in touch and wish the Season's Blessings to those we like so much!" The card allowed us to put captions with the pictures. The captions you read here are the same as they were on the card 3 years ago (I realize I'm the biggest card nerd; I'm ok with that).
No caption because this pic was on the front of the card.
Ryan spent this year's father's day windsurfing w/ his Dad @ Thief Valley.

This picture was taken @ our friend's wedding. What a fun weekend! It's hard to believe  it has been over 2 years since our day!
It's nice to remember that warmer months are ahead... this picture was taken @ Vanessa's mother's home in AZ.
What would be do without God's awesome creatures? This year we deiced to give Poco a hair cut to help him deal with the summer heat. Isn't he handsome? Ike is our newest addition to our family... there is a reason why a hurricane was named after him this year! 


2009
2009 was apparently my year of indecision. I couldn't decide on just a few pictures and I couldn't decide on just one type of card, so different folks got different cards with different pictures. And some people got multiple cards; one for Christmas and one for New Years (at least I can admit that I'm addicted). I purchased my photo cards from Blessings Unlimited that year. There were no captions with the pictures so I'll just add my own now...
Ryan was voted Firefighter of the year.
It's amazing how much critters can grow in a year!



Photo taken by: Photos by Lisa Edited by me.



Carly Carlson Photography 
Carly Carlson Photography





2010
I was also indecisive in 2010. I attempted to keep it simpler last year but... well you know... ok you probably don't know... let's just say... ITS AN ADDICTION! One of the cards that we used last year can be found at WalMart. The others were... one of a kind....
Ryan and I stopped at Deadwood Outfitters for a day of their flyfishing clinic. I hope we can make to Deadwood in 2012!
Jenny Jimenez photography

Jenny Jimenez Photography
Jenney Jimenez took this picture at my best friend Eun's wedding. Click on this link to get a glimpse of Eun's beautiful wedding and Jenny's awesome photography.


Thanksgiving 2010.

Our caption for this was: Ryan says "This is what happens when you turn 30." I say, "This is what happens when your husband turns 30."



















2011

???????????????????????????????????????
I guess you'll have to wait and see....  it's ok if you lose sleep over this... I understand!



What is your favorite tradition of the season? Do you send out Christmas cards? If so, how many? We send between 300-400 each year. 

3 comments:

  1. OK I am going to try this again and see if I can post a comment. Haven't had very good luck with that ! (by the way...love your blog ! You are a sweet precious inspirational young lady!)(oh and I love your cards !!) (oh, and I love having you at Deadwood ANYTIME you can make it !!) My favorite part of the holiday season is CHRISTMAS...I love it ALL, the cards, yummy food and family together having funa nd celebrating what Christmas is all about...Our Savior coming to save us !!

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  2. Hip Hip Hooray!!! Good job Dawn!!! Thanks for the comment and love!!! I love Christmas at your house! Your house is always warm and welcoming but it's even more so this time of year! Again, thanks for the encouragement and support!

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  3. Love this post Vanessa! It was fun looking at all of your pics from all the different years! Live u BFF!!

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