Pick your favorite new year card!

Sometime in the past four years, it has become a tradition for JB and I to send out New Year cards rather than Christmas or Chanukah cards. Perhaps it started because we procrastinated one year and missed the post office deadline. Maybe it was because Chanukah came unusually early and caught us off-guard. Or it could have been because the all-encompassing holiday cards available still felt too Christmas-y to us. (We send cards to both Jewish and non-Jewish family and friends.)

Last year we sent a New Year card from Minted featuring a black-and-white family photo taken by Alyson Sword Photography. I had a hard time choosing because there were so many Minted cards that I loved, but I decided on Jennifer Postorino’s Graceful design because its simple, modern style complemented our photo so beautifully. (My mom still has the card hanging on the wall above her desk!)

We met with Alyson again on Sunday to take a family photo for this year’s card. I’m hoping that my smile successfully hid the stress I was feeling at the shoot because Levi cried nearly the entire time! He was perfectly happy until we entered studio and then–wham!–giant tears. My only guess is that he thought we were going to leave him with a woman he didn’t recognize, so we tried our best to reassure him that we weren’t going anywhere…which is tough to do with a 16 month old.

When he wasn’t crying, Levi had his hand in his mouth (to pacify himself, I suppose), but Alyson assured us that she got some good shots when we managed to pull it away from his face. Although she hasn’t shown them to us yet, I’ve already visited Minted‘s website to start narrowing down my choices from their 244 options of New Year cards. I won’t be able to make a final decision until we pick the family photo we plan to use (because of orientation, color, etc.), but these are my top 6 choices.

Which is your favorite New Year card of these six?

Wait a minute, Mister Postman!

Before you sign any names on your family’s holiday or New Year cards, PLEASE remember that…

• The wife’s name is written first, followed by the husband’s name, and then the children’s names (from oldest to youngest).
• When signing with just your last name, do not use an apostrophe-s to make it plural. For example, we’d be “The Feinsteins,” not “The Feinstein’s.”

This post was written in partnership with Minted; however, the content, ideas and recommendations are all my own.