The Family Christmas Card Photo

Family photos aren’t just for holiday cards.  As many portrait photographers know, the months before the holidays are, no doubt, the busiest on our calendars.  From Labor Day through Thanksgiving (and even into December) we pack our schedules with families in anticipation of “The Family Christmas Card Photo.”  

The family photo card is not a new concept; in fact, my husband’s grandparents carefully styled a funny photo shoot for their family card every single year (my favorite was the year of Beatle-mania), crafting a clever poem inside and sending off to dear ones.

The ease with which the average consumer can create their own masterpieces, however, is relatively recent.  Digital photography has only been available since the late-1990s, the camera phone since 2002.  TinyPrints and Minted have an ever-expanding catalog of stunning templates to choose from, the online process becoming easier every year. 

I LOVE watching families grow and change.  Despite the fact that I keep up with many folks on social media, I live for this season of happy mail!  Ever since our wedding, I have saved all of the photos sent to us at Christmas (whether a school photo or a photo card) in boxes that I put out to flip through each year.  Let me tell you: the stack of photos I have from 2002 pales in comparison with the one from last year.  The family photo card is here to stay.  And why not?  We are proud of our families, our accomplishments, the places we have traveled. However . . .

We deserve to capture our family in photographs NOT to outdo one another in the Christmas card photo department, but because we love our family and want to capture these moments for OURSELVES.  We should document our family and preserve this time in our lives because it is fleeting and ever-changing.  These moments become more valuable with each year that passes.

A family photo session is an investment in money and time.  It’s not easy to coordinate outfits, pick a location, do your hair and makeup, keep the rest of your family from grumbling about missing football on a Saturday afternoon, and pray the weather cooperates.  But in the end (and if you have prepared well), you have created wonderful memories and had FUN in the process!  What a shame, then, to simply take your digital file and print a card on press paper (many of which, let’s be honest, will eventually end up in the trash). 

Every November and December I have to turn away clients that I would have loved the opportunity to photograph.  I say this not to brag about how busy I am, but because I feel like the family Christmas card photo has become a bit of an epidemic.  Why don’t we consider family photos at other times of the year?  What is the motivation for documenting our family?  Do we feel like we can’t just do this for ourselves?  

We CAN and we SHOULD.  And my January calendar is wide open . . . Let me help you preserve your precious family moments.