Holiday Cards and Keepsake Pieces

*This post is written in collaboration with Minted. All thoughts and opinions are solely my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Stang&Co!



Well, it is here! After the most glorious Thanksgiving weekend spent with family, the Christmas season is officially upon us. It seems that the time flies by faster and faster every year. Despite the long and crazy days of life when you are young parents of toddlers, I know how fleeting these moments are. Everyone tells me I am going to blink and my boys are going to be teenagers, and I get so overwhelmed with emotions, because I already know it is true. The days of my boys being babies already feels like a lifetime ago; what I wouldn't give to cradle my newborns and smell that new baby smell one more time. But that is how time works, you are in the throes of sleepness nights and stressing out over your little one meeting milestones, and then without you even realizing it, they are walking, talking, and independent.

Despite the stress that often goes with it, I make it a priority to capture photos of my boys as much as possible. I love using my Canon T5i (okay, actually it is my sister's and I have permanently borrowed it) with a 50mm lens. I have been able to capture beautiful memories of my children right in our own backyard thanks to this camera. As a newly converted believer, I would recommend investing in and learning how to use a quality camera a million times over.

Anyway, getting back on track! We had my mom come and help us grab some family photos in our yard last month, and of course it was a late October day where it was 70 degrees at 5pm. Not one bit common for that time of year in Minnesota! The boys didn't comply one bit, and Lincoln did not look for one single photo. I was bummed for a bit afterwards, but I eventually had an AHA! moment and realized; this is our life right now. My boys are young, carefree, and innocent. They care about having fun, exploring their big beautiful yard, and posing for pictures just isn't high on their list of priorities. That is what we captured this year, and that is what is real to us right now. And I ended up falling in love with how our Christmas Cards turned out.

While I love sending out Christmas cards every year, addressing and organizing them is a different matter. So when I was able to work with Minted and have all of our addresses digitally uploaded, with return addresses printed on them as well, I was through the roof! They even allow you to order matching stamps directly on their website. They took every last bit of work that goes into getting Christmas cards in the mail out of the equation. Once I opened our package and spent a minute (or 100) admiring the beautiful cards, I simple had to place them in the envelopes, stick on the stamps, and drop them in the mail. It was so easy I could have cried. If you don't have your addresses organized into a spreadsheet currently, Minted even allows you to send them your addresses in their current written form and they will do it for you! They have seriously thought of everything and take all of the stress and time out of getting your cards out in the mail. Of course, I had go to with one of their glitter foil pressed options, they are just too pretty to pass up!

When I was browsing their site, I also stumbled across the most precious and sentimental art design that allows you to upload a photo of your home and have it turned into what looks like an antique painting. For those of you that follow along, we built our home a year ago, and the amount of heart, soul, and tears that went into the process was worth it a million times over. While our home is complete, our yard is a constant work in progress, changing every year. But I saw this and thought, how absolutely magical to have a portrait of our home, in its 'original state', to look back at. I was able to list our address and the month and year that the photo was taken in the lower corner. I anticipate this portrait being a part of our family, and maybe even hanging in our children or grandchildren's homes one day. There are so many custom photo art options on the website, allowing you to do amazing things with your photos you truly would never have even thought of.

Are you a fan of Christmas cards? Do you plan them in advance and send them out right away, or are you the person dropping them in the mail on December 23rd? Either way, Minted is a perfect option for you, even in a time crunch they take the work out of it for you! And if you are searching for the perfect personalized gifts, the options are endless. Now is the perfect time to shop, happy Cyber Monday friends!