I didn’t get the importance of a great family photo until I had a family of my own. Growing up my mother and father made all five of us kids dress up in our Sunday best and stand in front of either the fireplace or a hideous yellow arm chair. Although my family moved around a lot, we always tried to recreate our perfect family photo. I have to say that I am simply impressed that my parents got all five of us kids to behave ourselves long enough to have a photo taken.
Now that I have children of my own and holiday cards and newsletters to send to friends and family, I get it. I need a great family photo to go on my Christmas cards. I would prefer it if everyone had a smile on their face and looked like they loved one another; but to be perfectly honest I would be content with everyone having their eyes open. Looking at the camera would be a bonus, but is not a deal breaker.
One of the hardest parts about created personalized Christmas cards is taking a good family photograph. This year for our family photo we decided to try to have a little fun. Since I have a seven-month-old baby and a toddler, the likelihood of have a nice neat family photo around the fireplace with smiley happy people all looking at the camera was wishful thinking. Instead my husband and I grabbed our kids, sat outside on the back steps, and roared at my SIL as she snapped away with her camera. One minute we are roaring the next we are smiling and laughing. As a result of our more laid back approach to taking a family photo we got our best ever family photo.
One of the hardest parts about created personalized Christmas cards is taking a good family photograph. This year for our family photo we decided to try to have a little fun. Since I have a seven-month-old baby and a toddler, the likelihood of have a nice neat family photo around the fireplace with smiley happy people all looking at the camera was wishful thinking. Instead my husband and I grabbed our kids, sat outside on the back steps, and roared at my SIL as she snapped away with her camera. One minute we are roaring the next we are smiling and laughing. As a result of our more laid back approach to taking a family photo we got our best ever family photo.
Everyone is having a great time and is truly happy. It is a perfect moment captured on film. I think I like this picture so much because it’s real. We are all one big happy family. Although... I do love the roaring photo too!
Now it is time to take my favorite family photo and get to work picking out the perfect Christmas Cards! In the past I have hand crafted my own Christmas Cards, but now that I have two children two-years-old and under I will be creating them online via Shutterfly. I have used Shutterfly in the past to create photo books for gifts and have been very pleased with the final product. I think that I will trust them with my Christmas cards this year.
Shutterfly currently has a Family Photo Day initiative where you can find tips, tricks, toolkits, and ideas for your own perfect family photo. They even have a contest where there are five winners based off of family photos!
To those of you who read my blog and are on my mailing list: try to act surprised when you open your Christmas cards.
I wrote this blog post while participating in the Shutterfly Family Photo Days blogging program. I received compensation for my participation. All opinions are 100% mine
