This post is written in collaboration with Minted, a wonderful source for your holiday cards, gift wraps, and unique gifts. While I was compensated for this post, all thoughts and opinions are mine.

A few weeks ago I had my dear friend Julie take our family photos. Julie and I have known each other since 1982!!! Go ahead, just let that sink in a bit. How long and intertwined are our lives? We played with each other on the elementary school playground. We endured middle school together. We dated brothers, went to prom together, took drivers ed together, played doubles tennis together. We’ve cried through breakups together. We were in each other’s weddings. Julie was there when Eli came into this world. We’ve held each other through sadness and shared some of our happiest moments together.

To say that Julie knows my family well and gets us would be the understatement of the year. And there’s no one I’d trust more to take our family photos. She and her partner, Kristina, are the creative force behind Red Thread Photography. If you live in central Indiana I highly, highly recommend them. And I’m not just saying that because Julie stayed my friend through big glasses, pegged jeans, braces, and mile-high bangs.

These are just a handful of my favorites. I’m not sure how I’m ever going to narrow them down to a reasonable amount to put on our holiday cards!

Speaking of holiday cards, have you started thinking about yours yet? I’m feeling especially on the ball, since we’ve had our photos taken and I’ve already picked out my favorite cards from Minted. Every year I drool over their selections, thanks to their unique business model of crowd-sourcing the best independent designers from all over the world.

For even more eye candy, be sure to check out Minted’s own blog, Julep (just be sure to get your Pinterest pinning finger ready!). Every year we make a list of things we want to do as a family over the holidays, both so we don’t miss out on beloved traditions and so we don’t overschedule ourselves. I’ve always written the list out on a sheet of scrap paper and stuffed it in a binder … until I took a look at this beautiful DIY scratch-off Advent calendar.

How are your holiday preparations coming along? Do you like to get things done way ahead of time or are you more of a fly by the seat of your pants kind of person?