How to take a family photo:

Do you know how hard it is to get a family Christmas photo taken when you have two kids under two, who hate being in dress clothes, when you don"t have anyone else to take the photo for you? Very. It is very hard.

But we managed... ish.

Bryan kept asking me if this was absolutely necessary. "Yes!" I said, "We need a family photo for our Christmas cards."

And yes, our cards did turn out to be fairly cute. And yes, ok, we got some adorable pictures of the kids. 

Exhibit A:

But most of the pictures taken were more like this:

Saoirse scowling, Reuben falling over because Saoirse didn't want to hold him anymore... yikes. Our "photo shoot" comprised of one sweaty little boy (I mean, it's like 70 degrees and I'm making him wear nylon pants, a dress shirt and a vest.) And one very terrible two's, tantrum throwing, not-happy-to-be-wearing-a-dress, Saoirse.

Did we really need to do a Christmas photo shoot? No. We could have gotten by with the thousands of other pictures we have of the kids. Am I glad we managed to get one family photo taken? Definitely. It may have been painful, but someday, it will be a great memory and I'll be really glad I forced my family to do it. It will be fun to watch our little family change and evolve over the years... someday.Right now, S is probably just praying I never put her in that dress again.

Happy Christmas week everyone!

P.S. Isn't our little home so beautiful? I think it looks like a greeting card! It makes me so happy!