It sounded like such a simple plan

I am exhausted, Peeps, and I still have errands to run. Blame it on the holidays, and my own damned creative streak. You see, I had an idea. An awful idea. I had a wonderfully awful idea.

Every year, my family takes a Christmas photo (see this blog post for how that goes), and I write a Christmas letter. I try to keep the letters brief, inject a little humor, tug on a heartstring, etc. For years now, I've been submitting our picture to either an on-line service, or schlepping to the local drugstore, to make picture cards. Some years, it would be the 4 x 8 card, with our photo on one side and some kind of "Season's Greetings" on the other. Some years, I opted for the 5 x 7 folded card with the message inside.

But each year, I had to print the letter separately, and then find a way to fold it into the card. Neither style of card lent itself to inserting an 8-1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper, unless I folded it into some kind of origami critter.

This year, we ended up with some good pictures, and one really funny one. I couldn't decide which photo to use. Then I got the Most Brilliant of Ideas. If I used a brochure template, I could put one photo on the front, then the other photo on the first fold-out, and finally, the letter on the inside. It would be Per.Fect.

I went to Office Max and behold! They had brochure paper, nice and thick, and already scored for easy folding. I could print as many cards as I needed, without wasting. I wouldn't have to wait for my cards to be processed and shipped to me. And no more origami letters!

Here's the thing: I have two printers and they BOTH hate the brochure paper. It's the wrong weight for them. It's like I'm trying to feed a hamburger to confirmed vegans. Neither of them like to grab it and feed it in, to be printed. They get a corner, wrinkle the paper, then announce that they "need paper." They do not need paper. They are both big wussies.

So in order to implement my brilliant plan and save money/time, blah, blah, I spent all morning in front of my wireless printer, feeding it one sheet of brochure paper at a time, in order to produce 60 copies of our Christmas card/letter. Many bad words were said. Many names were called.

It did not feel like the most wonderful time of the year.

So here's the front of our "Christmas brochure:"

Open it up and you'll see this:

Unfold the last flap to read:

If I need to make more, I may just take my files to Office Max and let them make copies. It costs a lot more to make color copies, but it will definitely save my sanity.

Got any Christmas photos/letters floating around the internet that you'd like to share? Perhaps a story or two of the sacrifices you've made to get those cards in the mail?