It has become a tradition in our family to go to shore every year. If you are not from New Jersey, the shore = the beach. My daughter and I take her two children, my grandchildren, for a week of fun, sun and board walking. If you haven’t noticed we do not invite the men folk, it’s a vacation not a “doing the same work in a different place” event which my daughter and I quickly learned the first time we invited our husbands. When we get home we show them our vacation photos and they show about as much interest as they do when we tell them about a cute hat we found or a new chicken recipe! They have not been in the vacation photos for years now and I don’t think they really care; they both have a week of bachelorhood and they are so glad to see us when we get home they can’t help but ask if we brought home any food.

My daughter Beth would love to use these great family vacation photos as her photo Christmas cards each year but she is missing part of the family. Also, she and kids are all tanned and John is pale because he spent his time away from the family watching the Mets play! We were determined to correct this once and for all. My husband and I offered to take the grandchildren for a weekend so Beth and John could have a weekend away at the shore and take as many vacation photos as they wanted. So everyone gets a nice vacation, and we all get beautiful Christmas cards!

I don’t mean to sound like a grump, but it sure is hard to be original when it’s time to send out Christmas cards. Maybe you feel the same way: the cards start pouring in around the end of November and after a while they all start to look the same, and you barely notice who they’re from anymore. So I was looking for a new idea to spice up the Christmas tradition when someone mentioned to me that vacation photos make great cards. That was it, I had my solution.

Vacation photos are fun and interesting and make people smile. At least mine do. That’s what I want! Add a personal message and you’ve got the perfect holiday photo cards. I’ve always got lots of great photos to choose from too. Last year I had one of the whole family on the beach around an awesome sand castle. Another with all of us at a lighthouse on a cliff, with the Chesapeake Bay in the background. So far the frontrunner for this year’s card is a candid shot of everyone splashing in a mountain stream on a camping trip. A little unconventional, I know, but then so am I!

I guess some folks would like to send holiday photo cards that are a little more serious and formal, or maybe with everyone in Santa suits or reindeer antlers. Whatever! No matter what you do, they’re unique. And that’s what makes photo cards the perfect choice!

Too bad vacations only come along maybe once or twice a year.  I know, for me, just looking at vacation photos brings a smile to my face.  And, when I do bring them out, the results are always the same.  We sit around the kitchen table and laugh and start telling the same stories we’ve all retold time and time again.  But it doesn’t matter.  Vacation photos let us take a break from the mundane and go back to a wonderful time when we left our cares behind – be it at the office or at home – and just relaxed.

It almost seems unfair not to share that feeling with others and Christmas photo cards are the perfect way to do that.  Just imagine the look on your friends faces when, in the middle of winter, they get your Christmas photo card showing your family on a relaxing cruise or lying on a beach.  And it doesn’t have to be fun in the sun that makes everyone smile.  I’ve lived many a vacation vicariously through my friends when I see them skiing down a killer mountain or riding a donkey down the Grand Canyon.   Just seeing families enjoying time together makes everyone feel good.

I think some of my favorite vacation photos tug a little at my heart strings too.  I come from a very large family and all our vacations when I was young included my grandparents who are no longer with me.  Those vacation photos are priceless and I know that turning them into Christmas photo cards will also mean something special to those I know and love who fondly remember those times as I do.

Lots of people I know make vacations family reunions.  What a great idea to take those vacation photos and share them with extended family members or those who couldn’t be there through a Christmas photo card.  It serves double duty – reminds everyone what a great time they had and maybe causes anyone who missed it to be sure they are there for the next one.

When I think about photo Christmas cards, images of children in their best Sunday clothes, couples on their wedding day, or adorable pets come to mind.  Not to say there’s anything wrong with that!  But this past Holiday season, I received a few photo cards from friends on their vacation.  Even though I was in freezing temperatures, I loved seeing my friends on their worldly (usually warm) adventures!

I thought using a vacation photo was a really cool and new take on what kind of pictures you can use on holiday cards.  But that’s exactly why I love photo cards; you can use what ever picture you want to share with family and friends!  It’s a really great way to let your loved ones know what you have been up to in the past year, while also sending them holiday wishes.

One friend sent me a photo card of him on the beaches of Puerto Rico. The design of the card was teal starfish and it looked so contemporary and unique.  Once again, photo cards are changing the way holiday cards are supposed to look.  It was so great to read his warm holiday wishes to me!  Another friend sent me a card of her and her husband on their trip to Greece.  The picture on that card was beautiful!  It was of them standing on a mountain side overlooking the majestic-blue ocean.  That sure did take me away from my winter wonderland back home, if only for a moment!

Next time I go on vacation, I will make sure to bring my digital camera.  Not only will I have those pictures as a keepsake, but I could also use them to create photo cards.  It goes to show that you can use those vacation photos in so many ways!

My best friend moved to London 6 months ago, and while I was super emotional watching her pack up and leave, I also felt a calming voice in the back of my mind, soothing my troubles with this tiny glimmer of hope: “you can go visit her!” And visit her I did! It was amazing to reunite with her and spend time with her, just like old times. But the best part about this trip? This was my first time abroad, an experience I will always treasure. Thankfully, this little vacation produced about a billion vacation photos. I honestly could not stop clicking my camera, snapping every chance I got to remember each and every detail of this trip. I can’t even begin to tell you how many pictures made it home with me, and I wanted to share each and every one with every person I knew.

With the Holidays close at hand, I thought it would be a great idea to send out Christmas photo cards with some of the highlights of my trip. It was such a thrilling experience, one that I want to share with my friends and family. I’m busy choosing pictures from this great vacation now, and I think they add such a personal touch to these cards. No frumpy Christmas sweaters, or forced poses in front of a Christmas scene. The landscape itself is the star of the show; I’m just the extra standing-in for a while. Fortunately, some Christmas photo cards offer multiple “windows” in which to put pictures. I plan on sending out pictures of the landscapes, not just of me standing in front of Big Ben with my toothy grin (believe me, I could not stop smiling my entire time there, except for when I had to leave and say goodbye yet again to my friend). I hope these photo cards can spread a little joy, and maybe spark the interest of some of my friends and family members so that they will actually want to take a trip themselves! If they need a tour guide, I’ll definitely be ready!

When I was little, I thought I was alone in having a crazy aunt as a member of my family, but as I grew up I realized most if not all of us have some sort of “crazy aunt.” You know the type…she always questions what you do, like why you would use vacation photos of your kids on the beach for your photo Christmas cards. “What does making a sand castle or being on the beach have to do with Christmas?” she would say. “Christmas is about candy canes and Santa and Christmas trees!”

Now, at first, I would try to reason with her and explain that there really aren’t any hard and fast rules to what to use on your photo Christmas cards, and it really could be any of your vacation photos or any other photo for that matter. We don’t live in the 50s anymore, which was a time when everything had to be “appropriate.” And it’s not like I am using an inappropriate photo like Elaine did on Seinfeld. To me, using our vacation photos for our photo Christmas cards is special because it reminds me of the good times that I shared with my family and friends throughout the year. And isn’t that what Christmas is all about? It sure seems that way to me. And, well, maybe it’s just a tad easier to grab a photo that I already took while on vacation rather than orchestrating the extremely tedious yearly Christmas card photo shoot. Well, my aunt wasn’t really buying my explanations and still felt like I should have something more appropriately Christmas-like on my holiday cards.

I do love crazy Aunt Olga but the next time she is asking her “innocent” questions – Why are you wearing white pants in September? Why did you serve chicken at the family reunion? Why are your kids playing soccer instead of taking piano lessons? – I’m just going to simply say, “You’ve really got to lighten up Auntie and by the way, don’t expect a photo Christmas card from me this year!”

Vacation photos frequently have fabulous backgrounds, built-in so to speak, making them a rich and unique source of that perfect shot for your photo Christmas cards. Your photos may include the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls in the background. Perhaps you’re standing by a huge redwood tree, or toes-in-sand with the ocean surf behind you. Maybe you were captured, screaming on the downhill side of a roller coaster ride! How about under a Broadway marquee or a-sail on the Hudson with the Statue of Liberty off your shoulder?

Whether you’re using your photos to send holiday greetings or using them as invitations, announcements, or thank you cards, you might not need to go crazy trying to devise a new display shot. Digital photos make the whole process that much simpler. You can easily scan your already-available vacation photos until you find “the one.” These days you can even cleverly crop your digital vacation photos to eliminate that stranger whose loud clothing accidentally appeared off to the side of your familial group. Better yet, if you thought to ask that stranger to snap the picture so no one is left out by standing behind the camera!

One of the really nice attributes of vacation photos is that everyone tends to look genuinely happy, at-ease, and naturally well-rested. Honeymoon shots make excellent first Christmas photo cards, not to mention distinctive thank-you-for-the-wedding-present cards!

Give it some thought. Which would you rather have people see – frozen smiles from a studio shot or mischievous grins from the backyard kiddies’ pool during your economically-challenged vacation?

I came up with a great idea this past holiday season. Normally when my family sends out holiday cards, we’ll use a card with a wreath or a snowman or maybe a nice winter scene. But this year, we did something different – we sent out photo Christmas cards using a digital photo from a recent family vacation. I used ChristmasCardsDirect.com to create the cards, and they came out great!

My family spent a week down the Jersey shore this past August and we had some great digital photos from our family vacation that were taking up space on my computer’s hard drive. Normally, people would get dressed up in Christmas garb months ahead of time and pose for a picture (I guess). But we had these beautiful photos from our vacation that would be perfect. The ChristmasCardsDirect.com site made it very easy to pick a design, upload the specific picture we wanted to use, edit the picture, and send it on through for printing. In two weeks time, we had our photo Christmas cards in our hands, ready to be mailed out to relatives and friends.

There are probably other companies which can digitally print photo Christmas cards but since ChristmasCardsDirect.com did such a terrific job, I know I will use them again without a second thought.

Ahh vacation! How we look forward to some relaxing time off from the day to day hustle and bustle. We spend time dreaming of the laying on the beach in the Bahamas, watching the sunset in Hawaii or sailing in the Cayman Islands. We plan and plan, and then the day comes and what!?! It’s over already!?! Thank goodness for vacation photos. Taking vacation photos with your digital camera while travelling is the best way to preserve the memories of those days when you didn’t have a care in the world except for what time lunch was being served. Vacation photos are also great options to consider for your holiday photo cards.

Digital cameras are one of the best things invented, especially for people who travel. You can fit so many pictures on a single memory card, and there is no need to worry about changing film or bringing extra film canisters. You are always ready for every photo opportunity that occurs while travelling. What if you ran into Oprah or Britney Spears while sunning on a beach in Cancun? What if Brad and Angelina decide to have dinner in your favorite vacation spot in the Hamptons, and they sit right next to your table?!? These are definitely photo ops, to say the least, but I am dreaming again. My vacation photos consist of family and friends doing vacation things like visiting museums in New York City, looking for bargains at street fairs in Point Pleasant, renting bicycles in Cape May, and taking long walks on the beach in Cape Cod.

I don’t like to be too structured while on vacation but I always make sure I take a few digital photos that would make great holiday photo cards. Holiday photo cards are so popular now and I can see why. Sites like ChristmasCardsDirect are so easy to use, and their cards are real cards…not just something that looks like a photo. These photo cards have your digital photo on the front of the card, and they open like a real card. On the inside, there is a greeting and the cards can be personalized…how cool is that?!? You have to check out the foil lined envelope that comes with the card too!

So make your friends green with envy this holiday season and use your fantastic digital vacation photos as your photo holiday cards. It’s one way to keep memories alive.

I remember going on some great family vacations when I was younger. No matter what the circumstances were, we always seemed to set aside some time in the summer to go on a trip. Whether we drove to the beach or flew to an amusement park, we always had a great time.

The only part I used to hate about those summer trips were all the vacation photos. For some reason my parents were obsessed with taking pictures of me and my brothers. I never quite understood why. Maybe they were looking for a good shot for our photo Christmas cards. Or perhaps that was just their way of enjoying themselves. Regardless, it’s tough to put a genuine smile on your face when you were staring into the hot summer sun. As a child, all you wanted to do is build a sand castle, eat an ice cream cone, or go on the next exciting ride; lining up for yet another boring picture and being asked to “smile naturally” was not on the top of the list.

As the years passed by, we all grew to have a finer appreciation for those dreaded vacation photos. Every so often an album pops up and we get a good laugh at each other. As we flip though the pages I start to understand why my parents took so many of those pictures. It wasn’t about the faces we were making or the beautiful scenery. It was about reliving the moment and sharing the memories years later.