Christmas card FAIL

I have come to accept the fact that I have zero luck when it comes to family Christmas cards. Whether it be a force of nature or a severe case of procrastination, a technological malfunction or a batch of ruined pictures, something always happens to ensure we make it through the holiday with NO Christmas cards.

This year it wasn’t entirely my fault. Between the boys being sick and Caleb working two weeks (through the weekend) I hadn’t had a chance to take appropriate Christmas card pictures. I didn’t have much choice but to wait until the very last minute, but I’d reserved Saturday (yesterday) for the purpose. The only thing we absolutely HAD to do that morning was get a decent picture. And of course, just my luck, we woke up to the Godzilla of all rain storms. So much for my outdoor photo dreams.

Determined to salvage the situation, Caleb convinced me to set up the lights and take some studio shots. Not my first choice for a Christmas card picture. More like my twentieth choice, if I had that many choices, which I don’t. Which is of course why we’re in this situation in the first place. ANYWAY.

So there I was yesterday afternoon editing away and ignoring the nagging feeling that something was a bit off. Like, do my kids’ heads really look like figure eights? And before I had a chance to get further with that thought, Caleb (the most honest critic you will ever meet) looks over my shoulder and goes “Um, what happen to his head? It looks bloated. What lens did you use anyway?”

The answer, my friend, is a wide angle lens. This glass is designed to fit as much scenery into a picture as possible, inevitably altering the perception a bit. Basically making the kids’ heads appear bigger than their bodies. Obviously, not the best lens to use for portraits, which I would have thought of if I’d had enough coffee that morning. Or, I don’t know, been out of the house more than once in the past week.

So the following are for your entertainment purposes only. Because they certainly won’t be appearing on a Christmas card.