My Love/Hate relationship with Christmas cards

I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas cards. While I LOVE to receive them I have a hard time sending them out for several reasons.

Do you have a hard time thinking of something to say? I do. In my mind I see myself writing something great that the recipient will enjoy reading. In reality, what I do write seems...well... blah. Especially with families that our only correspondence is via Christmas cards. What am I going to say to them? We haven't been involved in each other's lives all year so it's one of those, "what do you talk about" times. A lot of my relatives fall under this category.

For years, I dutifully sent out Christmas cards to everyone in my address book. Sometimes I would get one back but most times not. It really made me feel like I was bothering them and wasting both time and money by sending a card. Hmmm, maybe they didn't/don't appreciate handmade cards or thought I was being cheap by making them. If it was the later, they sure haven't priced craft supplies in a long, LONG time.

My dear hubby has burned me more than once on Christmas cards. He knows this. I won't let him forget it! First was while we were engaged. I made very time consuming cards that year. Each one took almost an hour to craft. He asked if I would make some for his family. "Sure", naive me says, "how many do you need?" Oh about twenty. TWENTY!!! Ouch!! But I made them. Found them laying on the counter in his apartment after Christmas. He hadn't even made the effort to address them.

Second time he got involved in making Christmas cards was when I was putting in a Stampin' Up order for card supplies. I was on a budget, had the stamp and supplies all picked out, but silly me asked him his thoughts. Well he fell in love with a stamp I just DID NOT LIKE and there went my budget. He and the Boy made the cards that year. I wasn't touching them and still can not get that stamp set to sell. 

The last time my honey bunch interfered was last year. I started gathering my supplies and he got the wild idea that he wanted to use some of the Boy's art for the front. The project went from simple to complex really fast and I'm hoping I'll be able to finish those for this year, maybe. They are really pretty. The Boy does good work.

After those last stories, I just wanted to put something out there for the record. My dear hubby is the most loving wonderful man a woman could have for her spouse! He just need so keep his little self out of my crafting projects UNLESS he will be the one majorly assisting in the crafting.