Christmas Photos

We made it to the friendly department store portrait studio just in time to have our holiday photos taken, greeting cards delivered, envelopes addressed, and sent on their merry way, in time for at least half of the recipients to view them before Christmas.  (I hope!)

Note to self:  always schedule photo shoots in the morning, when dark circles under my eyes will be less pronounced, children will be cooperative, and adults will have energy to manage them.

There was a kid's movie playing in the lobby, which meant that Tino wanted nothing more than the photo shoot to be over, so that he could get out there and affix his eyeballs to the screen.  Here he is, beaming at the prospect of movie-watching ahead.

Victoria was quite rambunctious and enjoyed doing the exact opposite of everything the photographer requested.  When the photographer finally did get her to smile, she put on a cheesy, fake grin...  like this:

And these.

The pictures are cute, but we were disappointed that we didn't get one of her natural smiles, because it's really wonderful when she is genuinely laughing and not putting on a fakey act for the camera.  So I suggested, half-jokingly, to the photographer, "Maybe we need to go back for a second photo shoot of just her."  To my surprise, she agreed and we went back into the studio for round two.  Having fulfilled his duties by producing several adorable photos, Tino planted himself in front of the screen in the lobby.

The photographer did her best to have Victoria sit in a lovely, feminine pose on the gift box props, stocking feet neatly crossed at the ankles, hands folded in her lap, and her red dress prettily spread across her knees.  As soon as the photographer backed away from my girl to snap the picture, Victoria hopped up from her pretty pose, pulled the lid off the box and climbed inside.  The photographer started to move to correct her, but Dave and I simultaneously shouted, "Take pictures!  Quick!" and she immediately started snapping.  The result?

One happy, disheveled, adorable girl stuffed in a holiday box.  

We succeeded in getting a couple of decent family shots, which made me happy, as my entire goal was to produce holiday greeting cards.  Mission accomplished.  Happy holidays from my family to yours!