2011 Christmas Card

Last year, Christmas card photo shoots were hard.  Try getting two six-month olds to look at you at the same time, then add lights and Santa hats...  But in the end, with Travis and I working together we got a great shot to remember for the ages.   Check out last year's Christmas card + out-takes to jog your memory.

People loved it.  I mean luuuuuuuved it.  To the point that we knew there would be no way to top ourselves this year.  But I don't know, in their own way I think this year's Christmas card photos rose to the occasion...

"We wish you a Merry Christmas...  From our crib to yours!!"

Yes, the lighting could be better.  (Actually, looking at it now I think the lighting in the shot is fine... somehow it looks darker on the card.)  I could have gotten both kids to look in my direction.  I could have made a backdrop or gotten them to smile.  But after more than 600 shots and several different set ups over the course of a few days, I was tired.  And so were they.  Which got me to thinking, the perfect card shot isn't always the prettiest one.  It's the one that captures a moment in time.  And when I look at these, I see more than just pretty babies.  I see my sweet children, in all of their individual and collective gloriousness.  I feel what it's like to be the mother of 18 month old twins.  And I am glad that I stopped trying to produce "perfect" and instead decided to appreciate what I already had.  (Life lesson #358,029 that the kids have taught me so far.)

And now for your enjoyment...  here are the out-takes!  

This last picture requires a bit of explanation.  You see, try as I might I never even got the kids and the Santa hats + blinking red Rudolph noses in the same photo.  I would almost call those ideas complete failures, except that Addison now says "binkin yites" (blinking lights) because of them.  Ah, the joys of toddlerhood!