Here is our Christmas card picture this year. While we may all be smiles (at least 2 out of 3 of us), I can’t say this was easy to get.

This year, I decided I wanted to take our picture in the snow. I thought it would be a nice change since this is our first year back in Northern California and something the beach just doesn’t have. We had it arranged to have my Dad come with us scouting for a location with snow somewhere up in the Sierra’s. Turns out for various reasons, not under his control, my Dad wasn’t able to make our photo shoot day. So, that meant just us and a tripod! If you have ever tried to take a family picture with a tripod you can relate to the chaos. Try throwing in a toddler, the snow, and the cold and you can imagine what our day was like! We got exactly 5 pictures to pick from and I left our mini-mini session feeling defeated. The car ride back from the snow was a moody one. I was having a little toddler tantrum of my own.  I take some many pictures for other people and our family picture ended with just FIVE pictures. FIVE, really?! Well, after a 15 minute pity party and realizing this was a really stupid thing to be getting upset over I decided to enjoy the rest of the car ride home.

When I got home and loaded the pictures up on the computer it turns out ONE of the five was a keeper – everyone was looking, no one was blinking! While I might not have had the large collection to choose from, I only needed one for a Christmas card. Hooray!

I am so happy to be able to take so many pictures for families I love because I know how special these moments are. As time goes on and kids get older you always have the pictures to look back on even if you end up with just one keeper, it will be a treasured moment in time!

And now, the real goods ones….