Christmas Tree Shopping

We've been buying from U-Cut Farms for several years now - ever since we learned that those lots selling "fresh" cut trees costing upwards of $75 often cut their trees 6-8 weeks before they even reached the point of sale.  We were so disappointed.

This year we tried out a few different locales, but in the end we came back to our favourite - H&M, located in Richmond on Steveston Highway just west of Gilbert.  We got a 6-foot Grand Fir for $45 inclusive.  So full and wide we had a hard time getting it through the front door!  And the smell?  Amazing.

As usual, we found the tree we would take home within minutes of walking to the Grand Fir area, but also as usual ... Manuel spent more time searching for something "better."  When Walter and I finally convinced Manuel we had picked the right one he got to work cutting while Walter oversaw things.

It was a bit wet out ... we were forced to make hot chocolate when we got home.

Christmas Card DIY

I used to buy Christmas cards in a box.  Once we had Walter I decided to make our own so that I could incorporate a picture of him each year - basically showing the changes in him every Christmas.

The first three years I ordered cards on-line, uploading photos.  The first one worked out quite well.  The second year - the store I ordered through changed printing companies and the quality sucked.  The third year was OK - I found a different company, but it was pricier.  Still, I was ready to get a little more creative.  So, for the fourth year I bought decorative cards with envelopes and used our own ink jet printer to create the photo to be attached.  It was a fair bit of work, but I quite enjoyed it.

So, this year I'm back at it again.  I've decided I'll show what's involved and tally up the costs.  Let's see how much it REALLY costs to make your own cards.

Here's what I bought:

• Canon Photo Paper (100 4x6) - $17.85 ... with a second package free
• Photocard kit with cards and envelopes (20 x 5 packages) - $74.90
• Mailing Labels (100) - $6.99
• Clear Labels for inside card text (60 x 2 packages) - $30.92
• Return Mailing Labels (350) $14.96
• Business Card Stock (200) - $17.95
• Ink Jet Cartridges for yellow, cyan, magenta - $20.99 x 3

The business card stock was to give out our new home address - not something that would always be necessary.  The ink jet cartridges vary in which ones come up for replacement, but I always seem to need to replace at least 2-3 of them each year while doing this project ... so we'll include them.

First, let's add up this list, add in the tax (here in BC we currently have HST of 12%).  Then we'll create a unit price and add that to find out the base cost per card.  Using Excel to tally up the overall cost - $253.72 with HST.  Ouch!  However, the actual cost per card runs to $1.74 (without the business card $1.64).  I usually end up using between 85 and 100.

My Christmas card workstation is our dining table! I love my Fiskars cutter - a best buy for sure.

First, I had to design the photo to place on the front of the card.  The previous weekend I had gotten Walter to pose with some moving boxes I had decorated with crafty snowflakes.  I wasn't totally happy with the results.  I played around with various photos and finally came up with this:

This incorporates our early Christmas art project, the moving boxes with snowflakes and a photo of Walter taken in November at the farm.  I printed off 85 in batches of five, letting them dry before stacking them.

Next, the inside label with a simple greeting and our names.  Then, I spent some time typing in contact information for everyone who was going to receive a card.  At this point I had a better idea of how many cards I would be producing.  After printing off the mailing labels, I created return mailing labels.  Business cards were next.  I used some clipart to include a bit of graphics in the form of a colourful moving truck with the phrase "we're moving!" emblazed on its side.

I created a workflow space for myself and started sticking labels - inside the card for the greeting text, then sticking the photo to the card.  Then labeling the envelope with the mailing and return mailing address labels.  Stuffed the card in, sealed the envelope.  Next!

I spent Saturday night printing the photos, and Sunday afternoon/evening doing the rest.  Probably 6-8 hours total.

Will I do it again next year?  You bet!

Psst ... We Have a Secret!

We have a secret ... but we don't have to keep it to ourselves anymore.  We've bought a house - yeah!

After selling our townhouse in the beginning of November we started seriously looking for a new home.  We had our list of needs and wants:

• yard for Walter (need)
• workshop for Manuel (want)
• good schools (need)
• out of school care that worked with our schedules (need)
• possibilities for rental suite and/or homestay (want)
• place to park the RV (want)
• 3-4 bedrooms (flexible)
• 2-3 bathrooms (flexible)
• family room (want)
• study for me (want)

On the Need side not too much (3) - all related to Walter.  The Want side was a little more difficult and caused us the most grief.

We lost out on several places before finally being successful.  The end home?  It's not our "dream" home, but it's a good home.  It has the yard, space for a workshop, good schools, out of school care with great hours, there's space for putting in a rental suite if we want and there's space for a homestay student.  The RV parking might be a smidge difficult - we'll have to play that one by ear.  There's a family room and a study.  The neighbourhood is great ... we back unto a park reserve and there's a wonderful community park nearby.  We got the house for a great price - if it was up-to-date and had been staged we'd likely have paid another $200,000.  As it is, it's a solid house that needs some loving and inspiration.  I think that is probably the right level for us at this time.  Something that's completely liveable as is, but allows us to get creative and add value.

We move at the end of January.  In the meantime?  We're saving every box we come across!