2006 Christmas Photo in California (we wrapped Baby up in decor for that shot)...
This is a photo of the front portion of our Christmas Card 2007
(our first year in Texas)...we took the photo at
a friends house...Baby got left out of this one.
Here's what I typically do for my cards...I go online to the
Walmart Print Center and choose a card
(I make sure it says "Merry Christmas" and NOT "Happy Holidays"),
I then add the photo of my choice, place my order and
pick them up a few day's later. Pretty simple...
and they only cost .33 cents each.
After I pick up the cards, I type up a message to my family and friends
on my computer (which includes the gospel), print it out then
glue it on the back of the photo, like this...
But this year I really haven't been in the mood.
Maybe it's because Emilio and I tried taking
a photo the other night and Baby wasn't behaving.
First, I tried to grab her but she's pretty heavy maybe over 40 lbs...
I tried to get a good grip on her leg but she doesn't
look very comfortable--wouldn't make for a good card...
She looks like she ready to make the escape on this one...poor thing. :-)
This wasn't going to make it on our Christmas cards for 08'... 
I typically like to have my Christmas Cards mailed out by now. So with all that said, I'm sort of behind on things. And I'd like to hear from you...
Do you include a Gospel message? If so, what do you say?
Do you give out Christmas Cards?
16 comments:
My family is not the best at getting Christmas cards sent out. Last year we sent tracts in our cards. This past October we were visiting our aunt and uncle (saved) in Texas and saw the tract sitting on their piano. They liked it so much they had it displayed in their living room!
I don't do Christmas cards at all, unless you count the 500 we do at work. I guess those give me Christmas-card burn-out. I wish someone would send me a card in June or July. That would make more of an impression on me than the traditional mass mailings at Christmas.
I send out cards every year because it's a way for me to share Christ again with family. I always include a family photo, a double-sided letter with "what we did this year" and a gospel message in the letter, and a gospel tract for good measure. It costs about $200 when all is said and done, so I'm always tempted to skip it, but it's a great way to share Christ again, so I keep doing it.
I LOVE getting other people's cards/letters/photos, and that also inspires me to put ours out. With that said, I haven't even started this years! :(
I'm thinking of using Living Waters' "Family Christmas Fun Page" this year as the gospel tract. Either that or "The World's Top Ten." I haven't decided.
I like the photo of Baby kissing Emilio!!! :)
I bought my cards at Walmart with the criteria of Merry Christmas not happy holidays over Thanksgiving weekend. They are still sitting in the bag on the dining room table waiting for me to do some thing with them. I want to include the Gospel I'm just struggling with the how. I manage cards about every other year because I'm a hideous procrastinator. Your post encouraged me to get it done and include the most important message of all - the Gospel! God bless and may it be a blessed and healthy Christmas season in your home!
You have really pretty hair Trish, in all the photos it always looks great! Sounds like you have the same trouble with your dog posing that we have with our kiddos! LOL
"What do you normally do for cards?"
I write a traditional Christmas letter every year, we have 105+ family and friends on our Christmas list we mail out too, so letters are easier and more affordable than cards (last year after Christmas I got great Christmas paper for really cheap at Target to use this year). Along with my letter we always send a photo along. Usually of just the kids, but this year Stephen wanted to send one of the entire family. I used to do what you did and had the photos processed with a Christmas background and ordered them through Costco...but that got too costly so now I have 4x6 prints made and just Photoshop in a greeting and our names. Those are only 13 cents each at Costco.
"Do you include a Gospel message?"
Yes I always incorporate the Gospel in my letters.
"If so, what do you say?"
Some years I've included specific verses, and other times I use my own words to spread the news. This year I used a quote about Christmas and our Savior from a former U.S. president, I thought it was appropriate for this year.
Do you give out Christmas Cards?
Every year I send out my letter and photo. I too also enjoy receiving them...I post them up on a wall in our house making a collage of all of them.
Merry Christmas Trish!
We always sign our cards, " He came once, He's coming again."
Since we have now been bitten by the "fishing" bug, we will add - "are you ready? - go to needgod.com to find out"
Blessings,
the MacMillans
Hey Trish, what we starting doing is saving all the Christmas cards that we get and when we sit down for a meal at the dinner table (we shoot for at least 3 meals a week with our busy schedules) we take a card and pray for that family. It usually takes us about 9 months to get through everyone. We eventually do throw a lot of them away, but at least we say a prayer for them. -The Whites
Hey sister Trish!
This is a really great idea! I think we'll do that too! I'll ask Jim first and see if he has some other ideas. :-)
We normally send out Christmas cards that already have some sort of evangelistic message on them, then we personally write on each card, sharing the Gospel message....yes, it takes a LONG time, but I think it's worth it. :-)
Love you sis!
Sunny
P.S. Hey, have you checked out CWO's December issue? It's your turn VERY soon! I'm SOOO excited!
The wife and I haven't sent out cards the last few years, but I'm back in the game this year. I found a great card to send with a wonderful gospel message on it. I ordered cards with most of the GoFish lyrics "It's About The Cross" on them:
It’s not just about the manger where the baby laid...
It’s not all about the angels who sang for Him that day
It’s not just about the shepherds or the bright and shining star
It’s not all about the wise men who traveled from afar
It’s not just about the presents underneath the tree
It’s not all about the feeling that this season brings to me
It’s not just about coming home to be with those you love
It’s not all about the beauty in the snow I’m dreaming of
The beginning of the story is wonderful and great
But it’s the ending that can save you and that’s why we celebrate
It’s about the cross, It’s about my sin
It’s about how Jesus came to be born once
So that we could be born again
It’s about God’s love nailed to a tree
It’s about every drop of blood that flowed
From Him when it should’ve been me
It’s about the stone that was rolled away
So that you and I could have a life some day
It’s about the cross
I hope I hear something back from the folks who get them!
-chris
Last year, I stashed all my Christmas cards with the Naughty or Nice Christmas tract from www.onemilliontracts.com. It was very easy to just tuck those in! Let us know what you decide!
Good morning Trish,
Charlie and I have chosen long time ago not to do the secular side of Christmas etc. We feel that the inclusion by the Body of Christ of Santa Claus has hurt the cause of Christ. How can you include the false message that Santa can see if you are naughty or nice, and that he can read your mind of what you want and include Santa traveling around the world in one night leaving gifts under a tree with the true God Jesus Christ? This has long puzzled us how Christians cannot see the harm in Santa Claus. I was not saved when my son was little. When he found out that Santa was not real, he asked me how he could then believe that what I told him about Jesus is true. He is 42 years old and still not a Christian.
We also do not have a tree or include the other pagan traditions.
What we do every year is send Christmas cards to those we know that include the truth about Jesus Christ. This is one time of the year when people will at least allow the Gospel message into their homes. We also attend the family Christmas dinner.
Patti
We always do a custom Christmas card. This year I got mine for free. The place I get my business cards done was offering 100 free postcards (undoubtedly trying to get businesses to use them for big Christmas mailings) so I took my boys out in the back yard, taped some Christmas paper up behind them and snapped some photos.
Instead of saying "Merry Christmas" alone on the front of the card, I put "Wishing you a Very Happy Celebration of Christ's Birth".
And the way I get the gospel in is by including "Visit our Christmas website: SplendidChristmas.com"... which contains several very clear gospel messages.
Banana, It's only cause I love you that I let this link slide through :-) and because I know the site :-)
Thanks for the idea...good work and tell Dale hello.
Thank you everyone else for all your wonderful ideas. I will be posting a photo of our Christmas card and the message we send out to all our friends and family members soon, so stay tuned. Love you all and Merry CHRISTmas!
Hey Trish, It's Eric from Atlanta!
I took something off Todd's radio show and combined it with Go Fish Guy's "It's about the cross" and made my own card. 'God sent us a Savior! "Merry Christmas!
If our greatest need was information
God would have sent us an educator
If our greatest need was technology
God would have sent us a scientist
If our greatest need was money
God would have sent us an economist
If our greatest need was pleasure
God would have sent us an entertainer
But our greatest need was forgiveness, And God sent us a Savior
May this Christmas you renew your knowledge of how great His love is towards you!
The beginning of the story is wonderful and great, but it’s the ending that can save you and that’s why we celebrate!
It’s about the cross
It’s about my sin
It’s about how Jesus came to people once so that we could be born again.
Have a joyous Christmas and a festive New Year!
You have inspired our family to send out Christmas cards this year as a way to witness to our family. My hubby bought some million dollor tracts and we got a good photo of our kids.
I love getting Christmas cards with pictures in them.
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