The Dreaded Holiday Photo

Tis' the season of the holiday sweater, the holiday pounds and the dreaded holiday card. Holidays cards are so much fun to receive, but to produce a decent one is harder than you'd think. Just ask Tony Blair, right? He has an entire staff at his disposal, stylist etc and THAT is the card he sent out? Tony honestly looked at his wife and said "yep, I like this photo. Let's use it for our holiday card."

So why is it so difficult to get a holiday photo? Let's explore. In our house growing up with eight kids with a fifteen year age span, someone was always going through something. Someone had just been dumped (tears, red face), someone was in trouble with my parents (scornful teenage scowl) or someone had just cut their own hair in the most horrible way, but denied knowing how it happened ("really mom, I woke up and it was like this" face).

In our house the drama leading up to the actual taking of the photo, can be broken down into three different scenarios.

1. The "What are you wearing Dad?"

Every year, without fail, my dad comes down from his room dressed in this sweater with a moose on it for holiday pictures. {see Our Story} My mom goes nuts and as we all got older it became the running joke in our family. "Why is Dad wearing the moose sweater again?" we would yell as soon as we saw him. It's not like this was my dad's favorite sweater, he only wore it once a year and without fail it was always photo day. The sweater was brutal and has been documented in at least three years, no joke, of holiday cards.

2. The forced Smile

"Smile now or I will make you smile!" What does that even mean? How can you make someone smile? Just get to know my mom and you will understand. Having eight kids requires a bit of a strict environment or things will go downhill before you can blink. My mother has a unique talent, one I still fear to this day, she can look at you and say more things with her eyes than most can say in a lifetime. The looks always have a very clear message "do what I say or I will ruin you." One year we actually photoshopped my brother Dan's head in from another picture, nice.

3. The Well Documented Year

This is the year when there are so many family events, weddings, baptisms, reunions and even funerals where everyone is together, dressed up and photos are taken. Volia! Instant holiday card. However painful or not, the event is you have a photo without having to organize it yourself. These photos have their own personality from "We clean up nicely!" to "I am going to be on someones mantle for the rest of my life with this brutal up-do!".

Good luck with yours- SMILE!