Hello, my name is Stormy, and I have a Christmas card problem.

I admit it. I have a problem. Making our Christmas card each year fills my every waking thought from October 1st until they're in the mail. I love making them. I want to surprise people with the awesomeness of our card each year. I want the cards to be unlike anything our family and friends have ever seen. I want people to stand at their mailboxes every day hoping and praying that our card will arrive.

Sometimes my friends say things like, "I don't know how you have time for that," or "That seems like a lot of work." Those who ask haven't yet understood the magic of the perfect, original Christmas card with pictures of my boys. They haven't experienced the pride that I feel when someone expresses their astonishment at the Christmas card made with my very own computer.

Once the cards are mailed, I think about them even more often. I secretly hope that all December conversations will turn to the subject of greeting cards and that at least one person involved in that conversation has received a Stormy Original. I want to see my cards displayed on "Regis and Kelly" and oohed and ahhed over by people all across this great nation. I want the attention...the glory...the fame that comes with being the Queen of the Cards.

Is this quest for the perfect card healthy? I don't have time to care. It's almost Thanksgiving, and I have only a concept for this year's card. I've been pondering the design for months, and now it's time to bring that design to fruition - to bring joy to the hearts of all who know us by sending them an amazing half sheet of paper with our pictures on it. It's a lofty goal, but I shall prevail.

This is the first card I designed - Christmas 2005. It was a year of much loss and much gain, and it was Keaton's first Christmas.



2006 brought a new challenge. I chose to center the card's theme around our love for Christmas music. It took many hours of scouring the internet to find a company that printed CD case inserts, but it was well worth it in the end. The first picture is the front and back of the card/CD case insert, and the second picture is the inside. I loved that card.

And then the 2007 version came along. The background is a picture of our actual Christmas tree that year. I just couldn't find an image up to my standards, so we had to put up the tree before I could finish the card. Making the mock-Polaroids was an exciting challenge.

And now I must bid you farewell. There is much work to be done, and I know you're all waiting with bated breath not for Santa nor Christmas carols nor blessed church services, but for the Hickman Family Christmas Card. Fear not, the card cometh.