Christmas Card Sweatshop

By the time this is set to post on my blog, we'll be headed to the airport for our trip. I got a welcome surprise for my birthday yesterday. The Christmas Cards that I had ordered only one week ago arrived today. I ordered the standard shipping and it wasn't due to arrive until next Tuesday, but there it was on our doorstep this afternoon. I was so relieved! I hated waiting so long to get the Christmas photo and I hated not being able to make my own cards this year. Ordering the card was a nice option under the circumstances but I was frustrated with not being able to send them out until we got back, which would mean they wouldn't get mailed out until after Christmas.

As soon as I realized what the package was, I called the kids into action. Anthony and Natalie came right away. Alex always has to go to the bathroom first. They folded the cards, stuffed and then sealed them into the envelopes. Patrick printed out the address labels, the kids applied the labels onto the envelopes.

I was a little frustrated with Natalie because some of the address labels were very crooked. She told me "They don't have to be perfect, Mama!" I told her she was right but that she still had to make it look like she cared about how it looked! Sigh.

Patrick knew that not having the cards out yet was stressing me out, so at 9pm or so, he drove out to the post office to mail the cards. We'll have to wait until after Christmas to mail the international ones since the post office wasn't open, but finally I can enjoy my vacation without Christmas chores still hanging over my head!

I called this my "Christmas Card Sweatshop" because I put the kiddos to work to get these cards done and mailed right away. I love that they were all such a big help especially the biggest "kid", Patrick!