We Have a Poser on Our Hands

So, every year, one of our favorite things to do is take our Christmas photo that either goes on our Christmas card or is included in our Christmas letter. What once started out as a candid shot taken by us has now turned into a full-on photo shoot....adjusting lights, moving furniture, spraying hairspray, and coordinating outfits. (Yah, I know, let the comments fly)  Here are the shots from the first three years...
  

2007



2008

2009

2010's Christmas photo promised to be a special one in our hearts for the rest of our lives. It was going to be our first Christmas photo as a family. But good grief, how were we going to pull this one off?  Not only did we need to reign in both of our crazy dogs, but we now also needed to incorporate Kyler....a 9 week old. Needless to say, it really pushed our limits of organization and patience. For example, 24/7 our two dogs want us to be on the floor and them to be in our laps. However, at the moment we both get on the floor to have them sit in our laps...they'll have nothing of it.  It's like they knew. There goes using the Staples "That was easy" button. Little cusses!

Kyler was actually pretty good the for the most part, but by the time we got the dogs a little settled he was getting a tad fussy.  Figures. Plus, to top it off, I had a wool sweater on and was starting to sweat like the Christmas goose. Not pretty. That's about the time I was ready to just call it off and try again another day. I'm thinkin' "Ugh! I wonder if Tyra goes through this."  But then all of a sudden, it all came together and Nellie (our best friend photographer) was able to snap some great shots!  Whew!  "Get this sweater off me!!!"

Here are a few from the shoot:

Ugh, this is hard work keepin' us all lookin' good.



Lucy....dammit!



FINALLY.....as good as it gets.    2010 is in the books.

Okay, so that's a wrap!  The hot blasted sweaters started coming off, the lamps and lighting all were all adjusted to normal, and we started putting the furniture back.  Our fabulous photographer was busy putting away her camera ..... when out of the blue, we all spotted something.  Amongst all the chaos ensuing from finishing the shoot, we see our little Lucy sitting underneath the Christmas tree....simply posing.   "Pssssssst, Nellie.......get your camera back out quick and see if you can get a shot."  And did she ever.  Lucy definitely takes after me.

So, now I leave you with our final shot of the evening......our little Lucy.....our little poser. Can you stand it?

"Hi.  Merry Christmas"

Do you have any Christmas photo stories (or photos) you'd like to share? Leave a comment and share your story.