Holiday Card Photo Outakes...

I spent the latter part of the past two nights painstakingly addressing envelopes to send out our annual holiday card. It was a long, drawn out process as we have two different address books; one on the iMac and the other on the laptop, and never the two have synced. As I lovingly hand wrote the addresses, cross-checking each one on both computers, Matt stuffed cards and affixed the address labels and stamps... which seriously took as long as it did for me to address over 100 envelopes, because goodness forbid he put one label on crooked. It was a rush to get them completed as the only outgoing mail is this Thursday morning, and just one more opportunity next week to get them in the mail before the new year (the joys of having limited mail service).

Starting in the late summer we focus a lot of time on capturing the "perfect" photo. Some years it's easy... like two years ago when we went to Egypt and snapped a shot in front of the Pyramids. Other years it's difficult ... like three years ago when it took over 1000 photos to get the girls both looking at the camera, and both smiling. Matt likes photos taken in exotic places, so we usually plan a big trip towards the end of the year when we know we're in a location where we can snap "the one." My girls know that when the camera comes out, mommy means business and come hell or high water, they better smile.

This year, that clearly didn't happen. We had planned on taking the photo on our trip in September to the Taj Mahal, though if you recall, I was sicker than a dog, and spent most of my time re-living my dinner from the previous night. With time running out, and several failed attempts to schedule a road trip to take a fun family photo, we resorted to the next best thing... a photo op in our backyard.

My girlfriend came over on one very hot afternoon, and with the best of intentions, snapped away on her camera and mine. About 100 photos later... and no holiday photo to speak of. I'm secure enough to showcase a few of these photos for your amusement. I'm sure you can see why these didn't make the cut...

In the end we did take a great photo ... and the cards are in the mail as we speak. Did I forget you? Send over your address if you want a card.... time is of the essence!

"Girls... just stand there and smile, darnit!"

Mommy with her eyes closed...

Fat face, nobody looking (including the dog) and clearly about done...

Another attempt without dog wrangling...

Snarky mommy has just about had it...

At the Taj Mahal ~ Don't we look lovely?
Don't stare too closely or you may see the vomit...