It has become a tradition now to take a festive-themed photo of the children for our Christmas card for close family and friends. I love coming up with ideas for different tableaux and trying to recreate them. The girls aren’t always co-operative but I’ve mostly managed to get the gist of what was in my head on to camera. It’s become a lovely way of looking back to see the girls growing up. Here are the festive photos that have featured on our Christmas cards so far.
1) Santa in front of the tree
Keeping it simple for the first year with one-year-old Jessica sitting in front of the tree amongst the presents. Or more accurately, sitting in front of the bottom segment of the tree with some gift-wrapped empty boxes, as the photo was taken in mid-November, way before I put the tree up. I love her little Santa dress in this photo and the way she is looking up at the camera.
2) The Nativity
Six weeks before this photo, we had become a family of four with the arrival of baby Sophie. Naturally, there was only one option for this photo as a newborn baby gave a perfect opportunity to recreate a Nativity scene. Jessica made an adorable little Mary with a blue dress and a blue scarf wrapped around her head. One tip though if you’re tempted to try this at home – make sure you have something soft on top of the hay. Sophie was very unimpressed about being put down on the hay. It took quite a few attempts to get a photo where she wasn’t making those objections known!
3) Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?
Our third festive photo saw Jessica donning coat, hat and gloves and “building” a little Sophie-snowman. Our front room was transformed into a snowy scene with lots of wadding spread everywhere. A now-walking Sophie meant that trying to get a shot with both children fairly static was a challenge. In the end, I set up the scene in front of the TV and put the Tweenies on and as you can see they’re both completely absorbed in watching it!
4) Santa and Rudolph
Our 2015 photo theme was suggested by my friend Elizabeth. She also loaned us the brown cardigan and trousers which helped turned Jessica into a reindeer. The sleigh is made from a cardboard box and Santa’s sack is mostly filled with cushions (with empty wrapped boxes on top). The wadding from the previous year’s photo made a reappearance to help create a snowy scene. The original backdrop to the photo is our garden fence which I replaced with a starry sky. I love the way Sophie is looking out in this shot, as if looking up at the stars. I’m not sure what she was looking at in reality though!
5) The Nutcracker
By Christmas 2016, both the girls had started ballet lessons. This inspired me to create a Nutcracker-themed photo. I bought a soldier’s costume for Jessica and dressed Sophie in a pink tutu. Our church, with its huge Christmas tree, was the backdrop for the photo. Once again a little editing was needed to remove most of the background and add some theatre curtains.
6) Santa’s Workshop
For Christmas 2017, I dressed the girls in elf costumes. They sat at the table with a wooden tool kit and some wooden toys while I took photos of them “making” the toys. I then edited out the background and replaced it with the inside of a wooden hut to create Santa’s workshop.
Do you have a Christmas photo tradition with your family?
Awwww! Those photos are sooo sweet! Great ideas! I’d love to reenact the nativity one but I don’t have a brother or sister… #Sharewithme
Thank you – am sure the Nativity one would work well with a doll instead 🙂
I have just bought that little santa dress for my daughter for christmas day, glad to see it looks super cute on! Lovely photo ideas #sharewithme
Thanks Jodie – the Santa dress is lovely, was quite sad that my daughter only got to wear it a few times! 🙂
Oh my gosh! Those photos are just adorable….
I actually said Aww out loud when I saw the The nativity one….So cute x
Thanks Kim – that one is definitely one of my favourites 🙂
These are just amazing photos – I am not even sure I could pick a favourite as they are all so adorable.
Thanks Jenni – I love looking back through them all 🙂
Oh my gosh, how cute is the nativity photo, they both look so happy 🙂 and you definitely can’t go wrong with a “who wants to build a snowman” pic!
Thank you – the nativity photo is definitely one of my favourites 🙂
These are wonderful! I’m sure your daughters will love looking through the Christmas photos year-on-year as they get older. My favourite is the snowman one, although I also really love what you’ve done this year, the backdrop looks great and your daughters so sweet 🙂
Very cute ideas! I love the nativity one:-). I tried to take festive photos the first year we had the girls and I can tell you it just didn’t work with 4 month old twins! I’ve never tried again, but maybe I should for next year. Thanks for sharing #PoCoLo
These are lovely! It would be a total disaster if I tried anything like this, so very impressed! Love the building a snowman one – so sweet and clever! #PoCoLo
Lovely photos, the nativity is my favourite. Not sure if you saw the news earlier this week but you should do a search on the family Christmas photo that Australian politician Andrew Leigh has used, love it! #pocolo
Ha ha, great ideas. Love this years, and the nativity one. I always have plans for them, but usually just with a hat or reindeer ears. Mostly because I can’t be bothered to make the backgrounds or anything. Really should make more effort before N gets too old #sharewithme
Great! I now really want to dress my kids up as Mary and Jesus! #PoCoLo
What a lovely round up for festive photos. I love it. Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me. I hope to see you again tomorrow for another great round. Please note it’s the very last SWM for 2015 and a special edition, year in review so you can link up your favorite four post from this year if you would like and I will return in the New Year ready to read all your amazing blog posts again. #sharewithme
I absolutely adore this idea, it is SO cute. They are all amazing photos and I bet every one who receives one loves it. Thank you for linking to #PoCoLo – and for the very kind words on Twitter today xx
Love this! I remember the last years picture too, it was so cute! I do a Christmas picture too, yet to take this year, but hopefully will manage one soon 🙂 these are such cute ideas for pictures 🙂
I absolutely love your Christmas photo every year, and I bet it is going to be a lovely one too this year. That first one of Jessica is so so cute!
Thank you Mel. I’m looking forward to revealing this year’s one x