Christmas Card photos - 2020
It has been… a year. As we enter the holiday season, a time of year I truly love, I find myself fully embracing two sensibilities around The Holidays: 2020. First: this is the year to pull back, slow down, and not hold ourselves to high standards and expectations. And second: it is absolutely, totally valid to lean all the way in to everything that brings us joy right now. In my family, that looks like pulling out all of our favorite ways we celebrate the holidays at home. Listening to Christmas music. Yes, the tree is up and decorated. We put up outdoor decorations for the first time in years. Garland everywhere. And Christmas cards are ordered.
I almost decided to skip the cards this year. But I really love putting them together. And I love collecting the ones we receive from our loved ones. In the age of Instagram, a photo card may not really be necessary, but I still love the practice of sending of off a little artifact of our year to the people close to our hearts.
We were lucky enough to have a beautiful, sunny, 55 degree day over the Thanksgiving break, and I convinced Brecken to throw on our Christmas jammies (tip: if family holiday pajamas are a tradition you enjoy, the ones in these photos are the only ones Burt’s Bees Baby includes in their lineup every year. Eric and I reuse ours each year, and just buy a new pair for B as he grows. We’ll keep it up for however long he thinks it’s fun to have matching pajamas 😉).
And another tip for getting decent photos of your kids: make it into an activity that isn’t just about pictures. We hid 12 gold pine cones throughout our property and made it into a scavenger hunt. I just shot these while he played and looked for them. It creates a lot more opportunities for natural, candid shots, and he has way more fun this way.
Side note: I’m offering Holiday mini sessions through December! 20 minutes, $70. Contact me to set something up!
