Sounds great! Your mom and friend are grinches.

One year I snt a photo of my dog on Santa's lap. Didn't care what others thought.

The first holiday season we were married we used a wedding photo. We had a smallish wedding, but our excited parents wanted to send a photo/announcement to every relative and friend under the sun. We disagreed feeling that announcements post wedding felt like a gift grab. We concluded with a Happy New Year card with a wedding photo. I think it was a good compromise.

Hmmm...in my circle, it's pretty common for newlyweds to send a first Xmas married photo card. Some continue, but many then opt for regular non-photo cards until they have kids, then start again. But, this is mostly for people who already share photos on FB. For those that don't really do photos on FB, they often send a photo every year regardless of their stage of life.

To swim against the tide... I absolutely think you should do whatever you want and send your card with whatever picture you want.

BUT, I personally felt similar to your mom's POV in that the first year I was married I sent a photo card of a pic from our wedding with "happy holidays from the Jones" or whatever since it was a bit of an announcement... but then I felt very uncomfortable doing photo cards the following years until we had kids. It jusy felt weird to me, plus with Facebook and instragram, everyone still knows what I look like. So it's not like they need a reminder, and certainly not one they need to post in their fridge. And yes, we also had a dog.

Instead for those those years we sent non-photo cards. Again, I think you should do whatever you want to do, I guess just noting that I can maybe sympathie with the sentiment a bit?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is a bit odd for adults to send pictures of themselves as Christmas cards to all and sundry. Could you send out regular Christmas cards and only include your cute picture in the cards you send to close family and friends?

OP here: We are only ordering 20 cards and sending them to family and close friends. Definitely were not planning on sending them out to acquaintances or people we barely see or talk to. This is just for close family (parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles) and then close friends/close family friends.

Actually, I would counsel that you should send them out to everyone, not just close friends and family. I don't even know you but I would love to get a card as you've described.

+1 i had a friend who was single and has a mastiff. She sent a card of her and the dog wearing a huge bow. I kept it on the refrigerator all year.

I think these pictures can be cute if they are tucked inside a regular Christmas card.

I don't like pictures that are printed up to look like a card. I'd really rather have a card and then maybe a separate photo inside that I can save apart from the card.

I also agree that it's cute and I would love to receive a card like this. I wouldn't hesitate to send it out.

I think your card idea sounds very cute, but also consider including a photo from the wedding (maybe on the back or something; a lot of card formats allow for this). You probably spent a small fortune on hair, make-up, wedding clothes, and photography that day, so it seems a shame not to take advantage of an opportunity to use the photos. I also think people might enjoy seeing a really nice photo (or cute or funny or whatever) photo from the wedding day. Just my $0.02.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your dog is probably cuter than some of my friend's kids!

ha! she is pretty cute! She's a 10 month old chocolate lab mix. I bought a corny santa headband (from the dollar spot in target) for her to see if she'd actually wear it because I thought it would be cute if she did and she actually walked around it on her head the other night for 10+ minutes. So we were planning on taking a cute pic of me, my husband and her in her little santa hat headband in front of some Christmas trees this weekend.

Aw! I'd love to see your photo with the puppy. Our shepherd will wear something on his head for like two seconds before he wants it off.

Mom and best friend are haters--if it makes you happy, send the pic. Most people won't be petty about supposed "rules" like this.

Anonymous wrote:no it sounds like they are saying you're of no value unless you have kids to brag about. I wouldn't put it past these people if they only want photos of children/families who are attractive.

furthermore, I think it was a dig on their part to make such a silly remark. Sounds like something my aunt would say to me.

no it sounds like they are saying you're of no value unless you have kids to brag about. I wouldn't put it past these people if they only want photos of children/families who are attractive.

Thanks Everyone! Shocked that most are actually all for this as I thought a lot of people would agree with my mom and best friend! Looks like we will be taking the picture this weekend!

I would vastly prefer photos of my friends over photos of their kids -- most of whom I can't begin to tell apart. Last year I got 3 cards featuring smiling young white people at the beach who I truly could not identify.

Animals are considered a part of the family so I see nothing wrong w/including pets (whether dog or cat) in a family photo.

However I wouldn’t send a photo of my son’s pet tarantula or a goldfish for very OBVIOUS reasons.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not weird, but if you JUST got married (and did save the dates, showers, invitations and thank you notes) - I might kind of be sick of getting mail from you.

Geez. You don't sound very nice! Bah humbug and all...

Seriously! It is so rare nowadays to get actual mail that isn’t junk. I am excited for anything personal I receive. Your card sounds adorable!

Anonymous wrote:Not weird, but if you JUST got married (and did save the dates, showers, invitations and thank you notes) - I might kind of be sick of getting mail from you.

Geez. You don't sound very nice! Bah humbug and all...