It started out innocently, I swear. A simple picture of my first born with our best wishes. If I could have only stopped with that.

Her second year, I decided to add a letter to a better photo. What could be harmful with that, right? The letter poked fun at our first year of parenting, my daughter's milestones, and a line or two about our jobs. Instead of the usual ‘liked your card', I was complimented on the letter's creativity.

Whoa, Nellie! The red light went off in my head for the third year. Seeing as I was very pregnant, this photo shoot utilized my belly as a present and the letter now became a spoof of the local newspaper. More compliments and more names to add to the mailing list.

The birth of our son sparked an idea that cost me one month of scanning, cropping, editing, and printing of a ‘Family Circle' rendition that to this day is talked about as one of my better works.

Can you see the pattern here? Well, I didn't so the next year, I had to create something that would make the magazine spoof look like child's play. And one night after the kids were in bed, I watched one episode of ‘Survivor'. Eureka ! Parents versus children, tribal names researched for weeks....dreams of layouts, color schemes, fonts, graphics. You get the point. Starting in September got me 80 cards the end of November. But this wasn't the end, no sir. Now it was time to upgrade. I needed a printer that could give me the perfect card full of vibrant photos, clear graphics, and dazzling fonts that would knock everyone's socks off. You see where we're going here?

And so, September rolled around again and this time, I was ready. Each photograph was scanned, cropped, rotated, and captioned to fit a new theme: The Game of Life. The cover was as close to the gamebox as I could get without scanning it (I tried, but it wouldn't fit). Glowing reviews and now the families were demanding next year's card earlier than the regular folks. Gotta give the fans what they want, right?

Last year, I think I hit perfection. Three months of planning, editing, writing, and rewriting produced the Sharp family's Blockbuster Christmas Movie Guide. Complete with four movies for each family member, the card detailed the year for each of us along with the usual photos. At last, I had won the game…or so I thought.

“What's this year's card?”

“When will it be ready?”

“Are you finished yet?”

And so here we are. I'll admit the rush is gone. Now the thrill of creating a card full of joy and great pictures is the albatross around my neck that can't be removed. I could send just the normal pre-printed cards, but would Van Gogh paint by numbers? Could Picasso draw Spongebob Squarepants storyboards?

This year's card is finished all but the printing and I will not go through this again next year. I hear e-cards are easy.