The Christmas Card Saga

Every year we send Christmas cards.

Which means every year we take pictures for said Christmas cards.

For the last several years we've had friends come over & I take pictures of their family & she takes pictures of mine.

We get everybody into coordinating outfits & threaten them encourage them to smile & stand up straight & not dork around.

And we pick 3 or 4 backdrops & several poses & then we take, oh, I dunno, maybe  12 million shots & we almost always get at least 1 or 2 that don't totally suck.

Because small children.

And, being the glutton for punishment that I am, combined with my PollyAnna tendencies I not only pose my kids but I add the animals in as well.

Because hey, what could possibly make taking photos of small children harder than adding in 3 or 4 dogs, a couple cats & an equine or 2???

But who can resist photos with puppies & ponies? Seriously.

After all, those are memories right?

Like this one here. The "before" shot...

Which led to this one which is absolutely perfect except for decapitating the dog. Darn it.

This is one of those squirrelly bob moments...

Which led to this one which ~ buy golly! ~ is a keeper!

Moving to a different spot & chaos ensues. See the crying child? Dad made him let go of his kitty. *sob*

But a few threatening encouraging words & we were back on track. Another keeper.

This is the one my daughter wants to use for the card. No. Just no.

I have no idea.

But this one is awesome.

A little too much enthusiasm going on here...

Recovery...

Chastisement...

Success.

Merry Christmas. Happy Hannukah. Joyeux Noel.

Blessings.