Archive for the 'Holiday Letter' Category

All of the above!

Published on Wednesday, December 30, 2009 in Holiday Letter, New Years and Photos. 1 Comment Tags: .

This is a copy of our 2009 Holiday Letter!  (…that was mailed out on December 1st.)  Enjoy!

We hope this greeting finds you and yours to be healthy and happy this holiday season! Instead of a typical holiday letter, we’ve decided to give you a Pop Quiz. Good Luck!

While fulfilling her duties as a Domestic Diva Handler, JoAnn is also:
a)  The Assistant Editor at Mile High Mamas, The Denver Post’s parenting website.
b)  The President of the local MOMS Club chapter.
c)  Focusing on her writing projects at her personal website, The Casual Perfectionist.
d)  All of the above

When he isn’t working, skiing, hiking or biking, [Daddy] is:
a)  Digging rocks in the backyard for various landscaping projects.
b)  Admiring his refinished flagstone patio & planning the refinishing of the 3-tiered deck.
c)  Caring for the beautiful flagstone path along the side of the house.
d)  All of the above

In addition to impersonating a 4-year old Princess, Claire’s favorite thing to do is:
a)  Dance at her new Ballet Classes at the [Ballet School].
b)  Learn new things at her Preschool Classes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
c)  Read books to Merlin & Jasper (who turned 8-years old this year, by the way!)
d)  All of the above

Photos! We love photos! The photos on the accompanying Holiday Card are:
a)  JoAnn & [Daddy] at a fun 1950s-style party at a benefit in Denver.
b)  Claire’s very first official preschool photo.
c)  A shadow portrait we took of the three of us standing at the edge of The Grand Canyon.
d)  All of the above

We’ve had a fun and exciting year! A highlight of 2009 was:
a)  A 12-day Road Trip in May, which included a stay at a Hot Springs in southern Colorado, camping at The Grand Canyon, frolicking on the beaches of California, and exploring LegoLand, Flagstaff & Santa Fe.
b)  Watching Claire dance down the aisle as a Flower Girl in [her aunt & uncle’s] wedding celebration in July.
c)  Visiting with our friends & relatives, whether they were here or there, or near and far.
d)  All of the above

All of the answers? All of the above!

As 2009 comes to an end, we wish you a Happy New Year.
We’d love to hear from you!

[Our contact information was included, but you’re welcome to contact us by clicking here.]

As 2009 comes to and end, we wish you a . . .

Happy Holidays 2009 Blog

Happy New Year!

How many snowmen can you punch?

Published on Thursday, December 11, 2008 in Christmas, Holiday Letter and Photos. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Well, now that my self-imposed December 1st Postmark Deadline for our Holiday Letters has come and gone, and most everyone has received them, I’m going to share some steps of The Holiday Letter Project 2008.

This year, we sent 100 letters. It didn’t take me long to address the envelopes. Rather than fight with my printer, I wrote them out by hand. It wasn’t really that tedious and didn’t take me long to do.

I looked at the fancy holiday papers, and they were a little too expensive for my liking, so rather than go that route, I chose to print our letter on light blue paper and then used a snowman punch to make it festive.

Click photos to enlarge.

Snowman Punch

Snowman Punch

After composing and printing one letter on white paper, I signed it with our names. I then ran the copies through my laser printer onto the blue. I then used the Snowman Punch to punch one snowman, and then flipped it over to punch out the other snowman.

In action

I used two sheets of paper at once, so I actually punched out two snowmen at the same time.

Something about typing “punch out the snowman” makes me laugh. It wasn’t nearly as violent as it appears on paper. ;)

Fancy Snowman Paper

Fancy Snowman Paper

After all the snowmen were punched out, (Ha! There it is again!) I started folding.

I set up a box I had with my envelopes, folded letters, photos, and the printed letters. I kept those in a folder with my address list. This was my Holiday Letter Project Command Center, and it was nice to be mobile and still have all my things in one place.

Project Command Center

Project Command Center

This way, I could easily work on my project in my office or the kitchen or the dining room, and I could start and stop my project without going completely crazy.

When I was done folding, it was time to stuff the envelopes. Inside each letter was tucked a photo. As you remember, here is the one we chose:

I got self-adhesive envelopes so the sealing part of the project would be super-quick and easy. Some people also received a photo from Claire’s 3rd Birthday. Those envelopes were set aside and finished after we had her photo taken, later than the rest, but still before my little deadline.

Self-adhesive envelopes, coupled with self-adhesive stamps made this holiday season bright! :)

Then, I decided to use the little snowmen that we’d punched out (brutally, and without cause…ha!) as stickers on the back of the envelopes.

This is what you need for this part of the project.

This is what you need for this part of the project.

All you do is put the little snowman on the mailing tape (or packing tape, or whatever you call this type of clear tape).

Then, you cut him off with the scissors and affix it to the back of the sealed envelope.

A Snowman Sticker that is not really a sticker, but kinda is...

A Snowman Sticker that is not really a sticker, but kinda is...

And, there you have it!

Now, if you were paying attention, you’ve probably already done the math in your head. Each of the 100 sheets yields 2 snowmen. One of the snowmen was then used on the back of the envelope, leaving an extra 100 snowmen.

100 Little Snowmen

100 Little Snowmen

Claire loves these little guys. Every week, I take a few out of the box, and she gets to play with a fresh new batch. We write names on them and color them and then put them in all kinds of precarious situations. But, for the record, not one of them has been punched out since. ;)

Holiday Letter 2007

Published on Thursday, December 20, 2007 in Christmas, Claire, Fun, Holiday Letter and Photos. 4 Comments

Well, it wouldn’t be the holidays without our annual holiday photo shoot and letter! I love writing our holiday letter every year, and I always try to do a different theme for the letter. (You can see the one I chose this year below. It was inspired by the photo we chose.) I met my goal and got them mailed out right after Thanksgiving. (My goal every year is as close to December 1st as possible…)

By now, anyone who was going to receive one via snail mail has received it, so I’m going to post it online. :)

The holiday photo we used captured all three of us mid-laugh. I love it. All of the photos we took were hilarious. We had some friends over for Thanksgiving, so we set up our camera on a tripod in our kitchen and had them push the button. Needless to say, they clicked candid shots the whole time, and the progression is pretty funny, as you can see below. We took a TON of photos, but here are some of my favorite outtakes:

Outtake 1
Um, there’s something on her face.

Outtake 2
You don’t want to hold her? Fine, I’ll hold her.

Outtake 3
Momma, I need’ta fix your hair. Oooooh, I need’ta zip your zipper.

Outtake 4
Are we done yet?

Outtake 5
Ready or not, I’m suckin’ my thumb.

Happy Holidays 2007!
And, here’s the one we used!

Obviously, I’ve cropped the pictures to highlight the most important subject. ;) Oh, and you can click on each picture to make it bigger. Clicking the photo a second time will give you even more detail…

So, without further ado, here is an altered-for-my-blog version of our holiday letter!

Happy Holidays
2007

We hope this Holiday Letter finds you and yours to be healthy and happy this Holiday Season!

As you can see by our holiday photo this year, we love to laugh! Laughter has been a constant theme at our house, especially with a toddler! Yes, Claire’s official two-year birthday is November 30th. Where does the time go?

In looking back over the year, we’re thankful for many things, especially the laughter:

L – Limited Visits to the ER. Fortunately, the three of us have been very healthy. But, on her 19-month birthday (June 30th), Claire had a little altercation with a chair in our living room, requiring our very first trip to the ER and four stitches on her forehead (one inside, and three outside). In true Claire-style, she handled the entire incident with ease! She has since been trying really hard to ‘walk’ and not ‘run’ in the living room, which is hard, because her version of a walk is a run…

A – Animals. Merlin and Jasper turned six years old this year! They both loved the Baby Claire, and neither of them seems to mind the Toddler Claire. She’s really gentle with them, but she loves to give a good chase. When they’ve had enough, they go to where she can’t reach them. But, it never fails that they come back for more. Those two always have been a little crazy. ;)

U – Under Construction. The remodeling projects never cease at the Hotel [OurLastName]! This year, we not only finished remodeling the main bathroom, we completely remodeled the master bathroom, as well! We’ve successfully added wall-tiling and heated flooring to our repertoire.

G – Gainful Employment. [Daddy] is still at [his company], and he really enjoys it! [Momma] has continued her role as [an independent contractor] for [her company] (working from home), in addition to being a toddler wrangler. Both positions keep her pretty busy, but she loves the challenge!

H – Hotel [OurLastName] Guests. Well, this wouldn’t be the Hotel [OurLastName] without all the guests! We love the constant stream of visitors, and we’ll have plenty of space in 2008, so be sure to make your reservations early!

T – Traveling. This year, we traveled to [the Midwest]. We were able to meet a brand new little nephew and see lots of family and friends! If we didn’t get a chance to see you this year, we hope to in the next!

E – Entertainment. Who knew life with a toddler could be so much fun!? Claire is very active and is also very verbal for her age. She says and does the funniest things, and every day we’re amazed at what she comes up with. It’s amazing to see her sense of humor, and the conversations we have keep us on our toes! We keep up-to-date photos on our family website, so be sure to check it out! (The web address is listed below.)

R – Relaxation. This summer, we traveled to Santa Fe for a much-needed family vacation. On this trip, we traveled with another family, and we had a great time! The three kids had a blast playing with each other, and the four adults had a wonderful break from their daily routines.

We wish you all the best in the New Year!

With Love & Laughter,

[The Three of Us]

[And, our contact info]