our holiday greeting mashup

Every year, we send out ~120 Christmas cards.  The format consists of a family photo, usually a couple shots of the kids - and then some action shots of experiences we've enjoyed over the past year.  It also contains a poem that the family will pitch in to write, usually encompassing the entire year in 12 sentences or less.  The annual poem is one of our most notable traditions, dating back to 1994: our first year of marriage.  

Because we didn't take any grand family vacations over the summer - in mid November, we donned our plaid shirts and went to the field across the street from our house, with sweeping views of the mountains and Lake Champlain, and started snapping off some photos we could use 1) for senior photos for the triplets and 2) our annual Christmas card.  

Unlike previous years, where I'm scrambling to write and order our cards the second week of December, this year, I was totally ahead of the game and wrote the poem the day after Thanksgiving. Hoping to capitalize on the Black Friday savings, I ordered our 120 cards and applied every discount that I could find including 50% off, free shipping, no tax, and expedited delivery.  One discount, a new one to me, because I'd never been on the ball to order Christmas cards so early as Black Friday, was "Buy 100 Cards, Get 20 Free!" Yippee!!! 

In my logic, if I purchased 100 cards - we'd receive another 20 for free, so I'd have the 120 we needed.  Alas, when I received the bright orange Shutterfly package less than a week later, and started to write all of our cards week after that, we only noticed that we were 20 cards short after we'd written out 99 of them.  

Charlie was assigned a pile, I was assigned a pile, and we didn't fully comprehend how many were in the respective piles until we were down to the last card.  It turns out, when I bought 100 cards, they only charged me for 80 - and sent the 20 for free.  AND SO IT IS, WE WERE 20 CARDS SHORT.  

Was it me not reading the promo properly, or a very poorly worded promo? 

The consensus at our house, is that Shutterfly was at fault. 

Regardless, there is no feeling quite like the feeling of realizing you don't have enough Christmas cards for some really important people on your list. Perhaps a few of our old friends - who we haven't heard from in a couple years - could have been skipped this year to make room for a beloved aunt who never writes a card, but you know looks forward to receiving ours.  

Unfortunately, all those cards to people that we might have skipped this year, had already been written out and we found ourselves in a serious pinch.  

So that same evening, I logged on to Shutterfly and ordered 20 additional cards.  Taking stock of the date, I realized that although the cards would just be here in time for Christmas, by the time we wrote them and mailed them ... and they are delivered far and wide across the nation ... it'll likely be after Christmas.  So I tweaked the card from "MERRIEST CHRISTMAS!" to "HAPPIEST NEW YEAR!"

EXHIBIT 1. 

That was the ONLY change.  Everything else, all photos, the poem, etc. etc. etc. were identical.  I quickly hit "ORDER" and lamented that without all the discounts I'd received on Black Friday (including free shipping) - this batch of 20 cards cost me nearly half as much as the 100 (er, 80) cards I'd purchased earlier in the month.  Dagnabbit!

Because we didn't have expedited shipping with the second batch, we didn't receive them until nearly three weeks later.  So when I arrived them just this past week, I felt tremendous satisfaction that we had made that change from "Merry Christmas" to "Happy New Years" since there was no way they'd be there in time for Christmas.  At first glance, the cards looked great and I was excited to get them to the remaining people on our list. 

Imagine my surprise - and then shock and horror - when the kids started laughing hysterically and pointed out that the boys heads were missing.  

EXHIBIT 2. 

At this point, I was finished with cards, and just needed these to go in the mail. I was not in the slightest way interested in reordering any more - nor filing a complaint and asking for a refund. 

However, I was convinced that Shutterfly was now 0/2, I logged on to the website and reviewed my order.  Although I'd only changed the words "MERRIEST" to "HAPPIEST", it would seem that this tiniest edit shifted the images on the card and lopped off the top of my boys heads.  Had I taken a hot minute to proofread the entire card, I would have noticed this and made the necessary correction.  Oops.  

The consensus at our house, is that this one's on me.  BUT, had Shutterfly not flubbed up the marketing campaign with 20 free cards, we wouldn't be in this predicament at all, now would we?  Hahahaha!!!!  

Ah well. I'm over it. And it certainly seems like the boys have grown out of the frame since these photos were taken.  Henry has cleared 6'0, and William is 6'3".  At his brother's age, William was *only* 5'9" so I wouldn't be surprised if my littlest firecracker winds up being the tallest of the group. I've never seen a child eat as much as he does.  He received an Air Fryer for Christmas (his #1 request!) and has cooked and consumed at least 15 pounds of chicken in the past three days.  I'm not even kidding. 

All I know is that every single day it looks like they're taller than they were the day before. 

Either they're getting taller, or I'm shrinking.  

Probably a little of both.  But it's so incredibly wonderful having all these people around that can reach things on the top shelf for me!