A (Photographic) Christmas Story

December 6, 2014

Last Tuesday afternoon I discovered that the company I wanted to order photo Christmas cards from had a big sale ending at midnight. But alas, I had no family photo to put on said photo cards.  And what good is a family photo card without a family photo?

And so I went into full-fledged Missing Family Photo Panic Mode.  (Don’t try this at home.)

The first thing that we mamas in Missing Family Photo Panic Mode do is to contemplate the schedules of all the members involved in the pending Photo Crisis.  On Tuesday, all three of us had complex schedules going in every direction, but I was able to discover one teeny tiny slot of time where, if everything came together perfectly, we would have just enough of a window of opportunity to make the photos happen.

And so I proceeded to give Sarah and Steve my most enthusiastic, motivational speech about how we needed to git ‘er done. That very moment. As in, immediately. And yes, that meant having to put on nicer clothes.

And how did they respond?

Well, they were more than happy to cooperate.  . 

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 You could just feel the fervency of the fervor of their emanating enthusiasm.

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 In fact, they were both the very picture of joyous joy and peace on earth and mucho good will toward men.

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 Sarah might even have made a face once . . . 

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 or twice.

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Joy, joy, joy!

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Well, just what in the world was this mama to do in the face of such non-enthusiasm? How was I supposed to handle this Photo Crisis of Increasingly Burgeoning Proportions?

Well, I decided that there was just one thing I could do.

I could put aside my Mrs .Nice Mama Persona  . . .31-DSC_7950

and I could fling myself into a veritable frenzy. 

I lectured Steve and Sarah to within an inch of their lives and told them to Get With The Picture Program or they would be making their own dinner that night, thank you very much.21-DSC_7936

You can see that The Lecture had a great impact on my husband.

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But then?  Once it actually hit them that I was Not Kidding, he and Sarah did become more cooperative.

I mean, look at this face.

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And those smiles.

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In the end, this is the photo we chose.  

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We had wanted more of an artistic, non traditional background so we sat against a wall in Steve’s office. However, there was a little too much “stuff” going on in the background, so I used my photo editing program to smooth and blur the background and then sent the photo on its way to the company.

And then I messed around with the picture a little more and ended up with this version, which we will use on the church’s website and Facebook pages. (I didn’t want text on the photo sent to the card company since there would be text in other places.) 

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Note:  Just in case anyone misses the humor of the above post,  I put the grumpy-looking outtakes of Steve and Sarah in dramatic story form, just for the fun of it. The two of them were actually very cooperative all the way through the process. And my “flying into a frenzy” photo was just a shot of me getting caught in the process of running from the camera to the chair. No frenzies were flown into throughout the making of these photos.

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26 comments so far.

26 responses to “A (Photographic) Christmas Story”

  1. Ann Martin says:

    Difficult choice. Really like the one of Sarah with the poinsettia (?). Merry Christmas.

  2. Jan Reuther says:

    My personal choice is the one just under the one where you’re standing. I mean, nothing says, “May the blessings of this time of celebration of the birth of Christ be yours and your family’s and safe travels if you can’t be with us, and don’t forget the pot luck supper the first Sunday after the New Year” like a curled lip from your pastor.

  3. dmantik says:

    That there is one mighty good lookin’ photo! 🙂 Loved the outtakes–made me smile and my heart felt cheerier too!

  4. Mrs. Pam says:

    will Somebody Else have her photo on the back of the card?
    great final photo… and rather neat the way you can fix the background.

    • Becky says:

      Mrs. Pam,

      Actually, Somebody Else’s picture is going to be featured on the address label this year. There will be another Somebody Else on the back of the card this year; I’ll post both sides of the card soon.

  5. Lesley says:

    Love it! Great picture story. Very nice editing at the end too! Everyone was a good sport.

  6. Angela says:

    How cute! 🙂

  7. Kristi says:

    Love the photos even the outtakes!

  8. Anonymous says:

    Love it! The result of several futile attempts only, at last, delivered the perfect picture!

  9. Sharyn McDonald says:

    What a beautiful Christmas card. Sarah, with your peaches and cream complextion – what a great picture of you and your new haircut. God bless each of you and the most blessed Christmas.

    • Becky says:

      Sharyn,

      Yes, Sarah does have beautiful skin. I think she had maybe two pimples during her entire teen hood! 🙂 Merry Christmas to you, too!

  10. beckylp says:

    love the one you choose but I also love the one where you and Steve were looking at each other with Sarah in the middle and it just seems to tell your story of your love for each other and Sarah. I also love the last shot of Sarah alone. Love how you got me laughing with your humor

  11. Shawn says:

    I love all of the pictures and the final picture was great! Happy holidays to all!

  12. Steve says:

    Funny.

  13. LeeAnne says:

    I love the final product!! A perfect Christmas card photo! 🙂

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