Every holiday season, we have a tradition of dressing all the kids up in some fancy clothes and taking them someplace suitably festive to take holiday pictures.
Sometimes it’s a nearby casino resort that puts up an indoor sleigh for photos. We take pictures and then go to their buffet restaurant for dinner.
Sometimes it’s a half empty mall. Once it was our friend Tiffany’s house, because it’s marvelously festive and incredibly tidy.
It can’t ever be our house, because our house is definitely not in the least bit incredibly tidy. 😉
Okay, once we used our house — we put Alex in a gift bag in front of the tree and put the bigger kids all around. But mostly we use ultra-decorated fancy spots!
So this year, I was thinking about all the things I had to do to get ready… find coordinating outfits, pick a location, get us all there, make everybody happy for long enough to get a decent shot of four very wiggly kids…
And I decided to break with tradition. Enough of that. People know by now what our kids look like all dolled up. And plenty of people have probably forgotten completely what Daryl and I look like, since we’re never in the shots!
I wanted all of us, and I wanted it real.
I told everybody to dress however they wished, and to wear something that summed them up — plus a fun hat.
I thought for sure the boys would want to be superheroes, but Jack picked a cool skeleton drummer shirt (with a top hat) and Alex opted for warmth! This is Minnesota after all! He topped it all off with a jingle bell elf hat that suited him perfectly.
Victoria wore a prom dress with jeans, a metallic scarf and a cowboy hat. Anna picked a dress, top hat and a poncho that a friend knitted for her.
Daryl picked the tux he wears to play “The Gambler” at the old fashioned Christmas events at a nearby historic site, plus a Santa hat. And I picked some high heeled boots, a jaunty cap, jeans and a shirt that said, “I am so blogging this.”
(I love that shirt. It sums me up!)
And then we marched to our front yard, let the kids climb a snow drift, and set the self timer on my camera.
Several sets of bursts and crazy laughter later, we had our holiday pictures.
I kind of love them. They’re us!
Here’s some of my favorites…
And here’s the one we went with for our holiday cards…
Yep, that’s us! 🙂
Happy Holidays!
Yep, that’s you guys 🙂
Happy holidays!
It’s perfect! ;o)
That is totally. the. best. Holiday. picture. EVER!
Awesome!
That is fantastic!
You look so joyful! What a great photo shoot!
I agree! Best holiday pic ever! Last year, I tried to take my crew (ages 7,4 and 1 at the time), dressed up, to the local portrait studio, and we didn’t make it out the door. It was all tantrums and sobbing. What a mess! I love this though, so perfect!
I LOVE it!!! It’s a picture of TRUE happiness which is what it’s all about! This just has so much more feeling! Much better than the posed and staged sort with the frozen eyes and smiles, bored and trying too hard. And what a terrific way to dodge putting yourselves thru stress just to get a great family picture. Thanks for sharing these… and for always keepin’ it real!
Fabulous!
You guys really shine through. Love it!
Such great photos! Gave me a big big smile.
I LOVE IT 🙂
I LOVE IT! You are so inspiring!
As a mother and a photographer…I have to say…I LOVE this 🙂 I totally want to do this when my family gets a little older. Why do we have to dress up? Especially if it isn’t really us. The real us is what should be on our christmas cards. Great job of capturing the real you!