it's that time of year...

Ahhh, the holiday season.  I have such fond memories of this time of year as a child.  My birthday, Thanksgiving, Hannukah and Christmas were all rolled up into one lovely month of family, friends, food and presents.  I am so excited that Aaron is starting to get to an age where he can get excited about all the hubbub and festivities.

A key part of the holidays, for our family, was our holiday picture.  My dear father, the avid photographer, would assign a day (usually somewhere around Thanksgiving), have my mom get Josh and I all gussied up, and then pose us for what seemed like an interminable number of photos.  Remember, this was back in the days of film and manual photo settings, so getting the perfect shot wasn't always easy.  Of course, even with digital cameras, unwilling subjects still exist.  But I digress.

Anyway, we'd get the several rolls developed and pore through the shots, looking for the perfect picture.  Undoubtedly, every year, there were many, many, many unusable options for one reason or another...tears glistening in eyes from a recent meltdown, unsmiling teenagers, awkward poses, loss of focus.  Oh the joy of the season was definitely upon us.  After we'd select the ONE, we'd take it down the drugstore and get it made into some ridiculous number of holiday cards (my poor mother would address and write a note on each of the 200 some cards) and send them on their way, carrying news of our family and holiday wishes.


As much as my brother and I complained about these special "moments" (some of us more so than others ahem...Joshua...ahem**), there were so many long distance friends and family that cherished these photo cards as one of the only means for keeping up with our lives.  Throughout the years, I've had several of my parents' friends say that they've kept their card from every single year - starting with my parents wedding card - and that they knew their holiday season truly started when they received that card.  Despite awkward teenage years and forced smiles, these cards were bigger than us.


And so, with that in mind, I've been unscrupulously subjecting my own son to the joy of Christmas card photos.  Even in this day and age of Facebook, blogs and email, when most anyone anywhere in the world can catch a quick glimpse of his cute little face while he grows, I think the photo Christmas cards are still such a sweet way to send holiday greetings.


We'll see if Aaron shares my sentiments when he sees these photos at age thirteen.  Ha!

Christmas 2008

You may remember 2008 as the year of the Happiest Elf.

My heart just melted.

 Then,

Christmas 2009

When we played our little Reindeer games.

Safety in numbers...

Christmas 2010

????

As you can see, I haven't taken my pictures for this year's Christmas card yet, but you can bet I'm already thinking about how to eek out one last year of adorableness before the kid can really resist me.  (Good thing I'll have a new victim baby next year.)  

While I ponder my prop options, I've also been looking into which cards I'd like to choose as a background for these (now) iconic photos.  As you can see below, we've come a VERY long way from the old CVS standards of a white background with a photo icon and some text.


Here are some of my favorites from Shutterfly.* 

Faith Hope Family Card

 I just love the sentiment of this card.  It's definitely my first choice, although it would require getting several quality photos which is HARD WORK with a two year old.

O Holy Night Card

 If we're only able to score ONE quality photo of Aaron, I would go with this card because I really like the simplicity and message.  But I think it'd have to be a really killer picture to make this one work. 

Mod Ornaments Card

 Another option if there is only one good picture but it's a bit more playful and whimsical.  So really, it depends on whether I can convince Aaron to wear some ridiculous Christmas-themed head gear again.  Cross your fingers!

Merry Plaid Card

Finally, a plaid option.  Because it's Isaac's favorite color.  And I love him.  And he helps me, even though he doesn't agree 100% with torturing our son and making public documentation of it.  So, in his honor, I'll consider it.

So, it's that time of year again!  I can't wait to get started!




*In the interest of full disclosure, I am writing this post as a promotion from Shutterfly to receive 50 free Christmas cards in return.  But I really do like these cards, and while I haven't purchased their Christmas card photos before, I have used Shutterfly to print our photos and make calendars before with great results.  If you have a blog and you are interested in the promotion, go to http://bit.ly/sfly2010 to get your free photo cards!

**While I have your attention, I would also like to fully disclose the fact that instead of an age limit for participation in these photos (which Joshua so desperately tried to enact), my mom promised that once Josh had his own child, he could use that child to replace himself in our family holiday card photos.  As we learned last year, she lied.  But Josh, doesn't this make you see how VITAL your presence in our family photo is?  It's a TRADITION.  Right?