Family Christmas Card Pictures

We did not have any professional pictures taken this year. We meant to, it just never happened. Now with about a week until Christmas, we were in need of a picture for our Christmas cards. So we can send them out. Since it's a week before Christmas. These were about our only options:

(Too far away.)

(Too sweaty and squnity.)
And in reality, these are not even viable options since they are both being stored on the hard drive of my old computer which is completely out of service. (I copied these low pixeled copies off my private blog.)

This was the only recent picture we have with the whole family in it. (It was taken on Thanksgiving - we went out to dinner.) But since my dad is in it, I thought it might not be the best option for Christmas card photo. Is it weird to send a Christmas card picture with Grandpa in it? I thought so too.

That left only one other option. Today after school we had a very last minute photo shoot. And by last minute, I mean I picked up the kids from the bus and walked in the house and said "Everyone get dressed, we are taking a family picture. Right now, before it gets dark." Everyone was super thrilled. My husband was in his office on a business call. I heard him say, "I've got to go. We are taking a family picture?" It was a mad rush of choosing outfits, fixing hair, and finding shoes.

We needed a photographer. I called my friend Cheri who dropped everything (without any notice- isn't she great?) to snap a few pictures.

The result? Pretty darn fabulous considering the complete and total lack of preparation or forethought.

Some behind the scene fun:

My fantastic sweater? It's actually one of my Christmas presents (that I bought for myself but that is another post.) Thankfully it hadn't been wrapped yet, so just pulled it out of the bag and tucked the tags into my shirt.

At some point Avery's feet "got hot" - or at least that was the explanation she gave later - so she decided to take off her shoes. It was about 45 degrees outside, so you can imagine how unbearably roasting her feet were. Perhaps that is why she is not wearing socks.

She continued to play with her shoes for a couple of shots.

There were the token strange looks. The cheesy grin.
The wide eyes, sometimes known as creepy eyes.

Which is probably better than the closed eyes but not by much.


This shot was ruined by our storm door (which I thought was clean.)

The winner? We are leaning towards this one.

Maybe in black and white?

You'll have to wait for the mail to find out for sure.