Christmas card photo saga, Part 6

After the fiasco that was, Christmas card photo 2004, I really needed 2005 to be less stressful.

As it turned out, I was coordinating efforts to sell Christmas Cards for our local Children's Hospital and one strategy was to ask neighborhood merchants to host card sales in their shops.

One store, an adorable baby/children's boutique, was owned by a mother and daughter, and they always went out of their way to support charitable events. They gladly agreed to sell the cards in their store, and as we were talking, it came up that the daughter is a photographer. Since I know Im not the only one that goes through the search for the good, yet reasonable priced, Christmas card photo, we worked up some photo sessions that were super well priced, that would be available to the public (ie, other moms, customers, and those that were buying Christmas cards).

Many local moms signed up for the photo session, and the daughter put a ton of working into building a Christmas/Hearth backdrop. She used a real mantle, faux brick background, etc. and it looked really nice.

I try to dress my kids a bit differently each year, rotating formal, casual, etc......and in 2005 found some cozy matching jammies.

Here is the picture from our Christmas card for 2005, taken in the back of the children's boutique:




So you might be saying, "hey, that looks perfect, what's her complaint?"

And, I dont have one. I loved this picture, and it was so much easier than years past, and reasonably priced.

As I think back, Im not sure why I didnt go this route for my 2006 picture too.....I dont remember if the daughter-owner was too busy, or, I got too busy and didnt ask. This past year the dear ladies closed up shop. It was very sad to see, as they were wonderful Christian gals who went out of their way to support our community. As it turns out, the property management company in our community, rented to another baby boutique - a chain store. Well, this family-owned boutique couldnt compete. This is how small town America loses it's way...but I guess that story is for another day.

So, I got a good picture for 2005, stay tuned to hear about 2006 and 2007.....