Family Portraits Can Be Pure Torture

Every November I put myself through the pure torture of trying to get a family photo for our Christmas cards. Now way back in the old days when we had just one child it wasn't so bad. We'd get the little guy dressed up in his cute holiday outfit and head on over to the mall for a photo session. An hour later we would walk away with a decent photo.

Well then we went and had twins and went from one child to three. Suddenly trying to get a family photo became nearly impossible. First, I'd spend way too much time (and money) hunting down matchy outfits for the boys. Then instead of having a somewhat peaceful photo session now utter chaos broke out. One child would sit nicely, another child would keep trying to run off while the third child would just cry and scream. By the time we were done, I was the one in tears and I would vow to never do it again. And of course the next year I would be right back in the same spot.

Two years ago we changed tactics and had a photographer come to our house. The result was probably the best family holiday photo we ever had and doing it in our own home made it so much less stressful. Then last year I decided to cut myself and my husband out of the Christmas photo and I took a picture of just the four boys myself. Greatest picture ever? Absolutely not. But it was free and I didn't have to set foot in a mall. So to me, it was perfect.

Since I still have a very uncooperative toddler (a.k.a. the devil) on my hands, I am steering clear of mall portrait studios again this year. To venture in there now would just be pure torture again. Maybe in a few years when everyone is older and behaves, I will try again.

How do you get your holiday portraits done?