9 Weeks/62 Days/1488 Hours Till Christmas

I love getting pictures like this from my friends and family! Looking back at my own family pictures I think...why does it take tears, yelling and bribery to get a nice photo of my family?? Every family photo has a journey. Let me demonstrate:

Final photo:

Moments before:

Final Photo:

Moments Before:

Final photo:

This one was really tough! We had just spent hours taking pictures at the park and had some really great ones! But when we got home most of the photo files were corrupted! So I made everyone gather again to take a few photos on our front porch.

TASKS

Here are a few steps you can take to make family picture day a better, more enjoyable experience.

1. Who is available to be in your picture? This may seem like a weird question, but once your kids grow up and move out, it can be hard to get everyone in a picture.

This was sooooooo bad. It was the first time one of our kids couldn't make it for family pictures. So we thought, "We'll just hold his photo. Genius." Nope. So many unfortunate pieces came together for this photo. Here's the highlights.

• Our kids senior pictures were in black and white and this is the photo we grabbed from the wall.

• Our color scheme for this year was black and red. Mostly black. Yes, it looks like he died and we are paying homage to him in a family photo.

My advice: Take the picture with whomever you have. This isn't the 1800's. You will take PLENTY of family pictures over the years. They don't all have to include everyone.

2. When are you going to take the pictures? Pick a few dates and contact your photographer. Let everyone know when it’s been scheduled.

This was my bad....We took our photos the day after Thanksgiving. No big deal unless you have retail workers. I didn't tell my youngest son when they were scheduled so he was working that Black Friday. He had to leave his shift early and was let go. Oops.

3. What is everyone going to wear? The easiest thing to do is decide on a color scheme and have each family or family member come up with their own outfits. You can declare veto power if you’re worried about it. Thankfully my girls and DIL enjoy putting together picture outfits for their families so we've had some fun with it over the years.

Things to consider:

• What's your photographer's turnaround time for your photos? Some are several weeks out. See if they will edit one or two family photos that you can use for your Christmas Cards.

• An inexperienced photographer will be less expensive, but an experienced photographer will have you in and out in less time.

Head on over to our Facebook Group and give us your family picture tips and tricks! You may find some great ideas from our other members or be the inspiration that someone else needs!

COMING UP NEXT WEEK:

Traditions!!