Dress in matching outfits, pose, say cheese, and stress out Mommy for the xmas card picture!

Growing up, my mom would start working on our Christmas card pictures some time in September. She would shop around trying to find the perfect color combination that would work for all three of us, one that we hadn't yet used, and the perfect location. Then we'd all head out some weekend in November and spend a few hours smiling for the perfect picture. "Perfect" meaning something where all three kids were looking at the camera and you couldn't see that we still had the tags on our clothes. (Mom might have returned them later.)

We hated every second of it. Though, we always got great compliments on our Christmas cards.

So, now that I'm a mom of two, what did I do? I went to three different stores to find the "perfect" outfits (but I took the tags off!) Then I spent 30 minutes posing my kids to get the "perfect" shot.

Crazy, I know.

While I didn't get one perfect shot (or even one "good enough" shot), I did get a few I could cut and paste to use. You don't really think I'd post them though, did you? you'll have to wait for the card in the mail, otherwise what's the point?

Instead, here's some we didn't use!