I’ve never been so excited to mail my holiday cards. Truly, I’m itching for Thanksgiving to be over just so that I can pop them in the mail.

I’ve had some nice holiday cards before, but ones from Minted that are sitting idly in my kitchen cabinet, waiting for December 1, are nicer than nice. These cards are absolutely beautiful.

I chose the Snowflake Tree style. It actually wasn’t a difficult decision, in spite of how many other gorgeous designs they have. This one leaped off the page at me. It was love at first sight.

You might think that’s a strange way to feel about a holiday card, but that’s because you haven’t clicked through to Minted yet. Go on, click. See which design jumps out at you; I can almost guarantee that one of them will.

Another reason I knew instantly that I wanted to get holiday cards from Minted was the Yearline option offered with many of their designs. It’s an ideal way to include tidbits of information without inundating recipients with too many boring details (single-spaced, full page, headache-inducing letters, anyone?).. It doesn’t have to be a timeline either; on ours, each child got a blurb (adjacent to his/her picture) and the family got one too.

Creating the card was a snap, and the order turnaround was surprisingly quick. Of course, it probably helped that I approved my proof within ten minutes of receiving it. What can I say - I spend too much time on the computer.

I was surprised by the packaging - both pleasantly and not-so-pleasantly. I loved how the cards were personally wrapped with great care. But the box was enormous compared to the size of the package of cards. I’m guessing that they use the same size box for most of their orders, and I’m also guessing that they want to be sure each order is well-padded to ensure that none of the corners get bent. And I give them credit for using shredded paper as packing material instead of those god-awful packing peanuts.

A few bloggers at PBN have commented negatively on the pricing. I actually think the price is perfectly reasonable - starting at $67 for 25 personalized photo cards. Considering that I don’t send paper cards to anyone at any other time during the year - no Valentines, no birthday cards, no anniversary cards - I’m willing to shell out for high-end holiday cards. And I’m also a stationery junkie.

But I think the greatest recommendation in favor of Minted is how my husband reacted to the cards. He loves them. Now tell me, when was the last time you heard of a (most definitely straight) man who was that impressed by stationery? Yeah, I thought so.

Go check out Minted. They’ve got a 10% off deal going on now. Plus, you’ll get your cards out in the first half of December, which is pretty impressive in itself.