The holiday season can be stressful for everyone, then you throw in the family Christmas card session and the stress rises to an all time high. You want that perfect picture to send out to all of your family and friends that will make them say "awww" when they open up that fancy little envelope. You see all of the other perfect little family cards coming in the mail and it looks so effortless.  Trust me, its not effortless. 

Here are a few from our effortless session...aren't we all so cute? :-)

Just kidding, totally not effortless! We attempted our annual family Christmas portrait a few weeks ago. Every year my family meets up with another professional photographer and her famiy.  We both know what we're doing, so it should be a breeze, right? WRONG!

Now as photographers we already knew that family sessions aren't always a breeze and sometimes we have to practically stand on our heads to get a smile. However, you would think that the two of us working together would make things a little easier. When in reality I'm pretty sure that my child was THE worst behaved child I've ever worked with...

We ran...

We pouted...

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We cried...

And cried...

Oh yeah, and we threw ourselves...

So my goal in sharing these unflattering, far from perfect family photos was to let all of my wonderful customers know we know exactly what you're going through. Oh and to let everyone know that all of those adorable Christmas card photos you get in the mail involving children anywhere from the age of 0 to 12 were more than likely the result of a session similar to this. Now don't get me wrong, not every session involves crying and screaming, but for those of you that it happens to, just know you're not alone and you can stop apologizing to me :-)

Happy holidays to all!