Getting them to smile is just as hard as picking the perfect card!

I'm going to admit that getting a decent family picture for a Christmas card is not easy work.  However, I'm not sure if it's more difficult than deciding which Christmas card to order. I started looking on Shutterfly months before Christmas, and yet here I am on Thanksgiving needing to order a card ASAP, but can't decide what to do.  

I love the idea of a flat card that is simple and classic. I love this partially because some of our family like having a more recent picture to hang up, but this way it's not too Christmas-y.  Then again I would love to have a folded Christmas card with a more personal greeting on the inside.  In the past we've done some of the chocolate brown and maroon themed ones and I've liked those, but wondering if I want to do less of the "card" part and more of the picture part (if that makes sense).

As you can tell, it's hard to decide!  I did post a few of my favorites below with the links to the cards.  Now that I look it over again I realize I am leaning towards something more simple.  Let me know what you think, or if you find one here you think would be even better!  

If you click on this link it will take you to all the holiday cards and you'll see my option dilemma. http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

Here are some simple ones that I like (BTW: that's not us in case you were wondering):

In the meantime I can't help but think a wall calendar like this http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars would help me remember everyone's birthdays and I could put all the pictures that didn't fit on our Christmas card on our calendar!  

Also, since I'm thinking about Christmas gifts (and no I can't handle the crowds on a normal shopping day, so I'm not about to go out tomorrow for Black Friday) I wonder if the grandparents would like a mug with their grandkids on it? It's so much classier then the plastic ones we used to color in and give as gifts when we were growing up! http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs

Anyway, there are my Christmas card & other gift thoughts for the day!