Now act crazy!

Every year, I drive myself and Sean crazy trying to get the perfect family picture for our Christmas cards. For Hadley's first Christmas, we took picture after picture of the three of us in our living room only to decide that an outdoor picture would look better. Then, once we found a suitable outdoor location, we spent over an hour in the cold trying to get a picture in which Hadley was either 1) not sleeping, or 2) not crying. I ended up sending out cards with Hadley crying in the picture. I thought they were pretty cute.

Last year, we got some great fall pictures at our local botanic gardens and decided to use those for our Christmas cards. I realized as we were designing our Christmas cards that although we had some great family pictures, all of the pictures of just Hadley were of her running. Sigh. We tried taking more pics of Hadley, but you guessed it, more running. So, if you got our Christmas card last year, that's why Hadley was a little blurry.

This year, I've decided to embrace the craziness. Instead of trying to get the perfect family photo for my holiday photo cards, I'm going to use the silliest pictures I have. Like this one from our recent trip to the Ozarks for Thanksgiving:

Or this one from Hadley's birthday party:

The best part is that the pictures are a little kooky and whimsical and goofy. And I love that. Isn't life a little kooky and goofy anyway?

Now, for the really hard part: picking the perfect holiday card design. Luckily, Shutterfly is giving bloggers 50 free cards this year-- and there are a ton of gorgeous cards to choose from. Score! Right now, I'm loving these designs:

Aren't these Christmas photo cards delicious? I'm loving the red and chocolate styles this year.

So as not to spoil the surprise for those of you who might be receiving a card from me in the mail, I won't tell you which style I chose. But, rest assured, there will (likely) be no crying or running children in the photos this year. I hope.

** For the record, I am receiving compensation in the form of 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly for this post. Score:-). To get your own free cards, go here.