“Say CHEESE!”

And with this one utterance, the frenzy to create holiday photo cards begins. Year after year, people will start the holiday card photo shoot earlier and earlier. “Kids! Get out of your bathing suits and put on these hot and sticky velvet outfits so we can take pictures in front of our artistically decorated artificial tree.” The kids aren’t the only ones who get in on the action. If you’re anything like me, you enjoy taking photos of your pets in addition to photographing people. Wouldn’t a picture of my five kitty cats make wonderful holiday photo cards? What’s not to like about sweet, furry kitties?

Sending photo holiday cards is also a growing trend among businesses. While coordinating holiday photo cards for a company may sound a little daunting, it really isn’t. The hardest part will be gathering all of your employees together at the same time, but if you give them enough notice, it’s not impossible. The most common business holiday photo cards I see are photos of all the employees grouped outside on a clear day. Click, click, and you’re done. While some companies will get a little more festive with Santa hats or antlers, it’s really a matter of personal taste.

Whether you’re creating holiday photo cards for business or personal use, once the photo is taken the rest is a piece of cake. You can insert your printed picture into photo holder cards or you can go the more electronic way and upload your digital photo to have printed directly onto your holiday photo cards. What could be easier?

Early one morning in November many years ago, my sister Marie called to remind me of a pact the two of us had made the year before involving photo Christmas cards. We had decided that when my youngest child turned two we would take our kids (her two and my three) to have their photos taken for each family’s Christmas cards. It would mark the beginning of the end, so to speak, of our kids’ babyhood. They were now old enough and mature enough to sit while taking photos for a professional photo session. Or so we thought!

So off to the photographer we went…Marie with her two toddlers and me with my three little angels. Marie’s kids went first and in less than ten minutes they were done! The photographer was happy as a clam with the digital photos he had taken. He told Marie that he wished all children were as easy to pose when taking pictures as hers were. Marie was absolutely beaming!

Then it was our turn. Where do I begin to describe the nightmarish scene that followed? Should I start with my youngest, who for some unknown reason took an instant dislike to the photographer and screamed bloody murder whenever he got within ten feet of him? Or should I try to explain what happened when my middle one, at my insistence, removed his baseball cap. Now I was the one screaming. “What happened to your hair?” I yelled. Before he could answer, my oldest chimed in with “I cut it for the picture, but he kept moving so it’s a little crooked.” I was flabbergasted! “A little crooked? A little crooked!” I cried. You can understand my shock when I tell you that there was a chunk of hair missing that was half the size of his head! I wanted to tell him to put the darn cap back on, but it didn’t exactly match his little blue suit!

What can I say? The rest of the photo shoot was a disaster. The youngest one never did stop screaming (but I did, eventually). The middle one pouted his way through taking photos, and the oldest – the hair stylist – smiled easily, secure in the knowledge that she would look the best of the three of them in the family photo Christmas cards.

When we finally emerged from the studio, Marie, who had been waiting outside with her perfect little darlings, basking in their successful photo taking experience, asked innocently, “What took so long? What happened?” Worn out like an old dish rag, the only response I could muster was an almost inaudible, pitiful whimper. Did Marie know some secret photo tips for photographing kids and not feel the need to share that information with me? Sometimes it’s impossible for parents to predict how their children will behave when taking photos, especially the younger ones!

P.S.  Much to my surprise and delight, the photo cards turned out really cute and it was the beginning of an annual tradition!