A Belated Virtual Christmas Card

Happy Candlemas! The Christmas season is officially over, so we really have no excuse other than laziness for the fact that all our Christmas stuff is still out... Weekend plans, anyone?

Meanwhile, I realized I never actually posted our Christmas card pictures here. Want to know why?

Because we only *just* sent the last of the Christmas cards out on Monday.

Yikes. And I know we forgot some people, because that's what happens when you do half in December and the other half a month later. You don't mind, right? I hope not!

It all started one warm December day... I grabbed everybody an outfit with as much blue in it as possible and told them all we were taking Christmas card pictures. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, for one thing... We have five kids. Whoops.

But can we all appreciate Mary Claire's adorable tummy peeking out? I thought so.

After adjusting the camera, there was a bit of a meltdown because we asked Elizabeth not to run laps around the barn while we were trying to take pictures. That didn' tgo over well.

And this was about the best we got - John Paul doing some sort of odd dance, and most of the rest of the family looking at the camera!

We headed down to the pond to try to get some pictures in front of the trees, but I think the barn was a better background, plus it got tricky figuring out how to arrange ourselves on uneven ground... Moral of this story? Be proactive and get family pictures done well in advance! I was too late to get a real photographer, so yet again we relied on the trusty old camera and tripod...

The facial expressions... Weren't happening.

And then they all saw the darned cat running down the hill, which prompted Elizabeth to "run like a cat" after we got a few shots in. As you can see from this GIF that took me way too long to make, we reacted like seasoned pros.

Or like exasperated parents...

I think I have a future in family photography.

;)