Christmas Card Fiasco

So each year there is a debate over "which" photo to use for our little family of 3's Christmas card. I can always get a good picture of Charlie but doing the same of Brent is tough. He refuses to take photos. I mean he makes this weird face and gets grumpy and doesn't want to go with the flow. Blame me because I always have a camera in hand asking him to let me practice this or that on him. Flashback to Thanksgiving.... My sister Emily took 3 pictures of us in my Memaw's front yard. I insisted we just use one of those and Brent was not a fan. On Thursday I declared that when he came home I would have the tripod set up in front of the tree and we would be taking a new family photo if he wouldn't allow me to use the Thanksgiving candid. I got home around 5:30 and worked with the light settings and eventually gave up because the camera would not focus on me while I was practicing our set up. If I held the camera it focused perfectly on Charlie but as soon as I put it on the tripod it focused on the tree rather than the human. Frustrated, I gave up and put my pajamas on and removed the small amount of makeup left from the day. Sure enough Brent came in around 7 and wanted to know why the camera studio wasn't up and running. I explained the predicament and he declared "You either do this now or never" so I ran up, changed again and put on new makeup. We wasted 45 minutes with the self timer! Seriously.. our tree looked fabulous (each ornament in focus) but our faces were a big blur :(  Needless to say we will have the Thanksgiving photo along with a super cute low light shot of Charlie gracing the cover of our Christmas card this year. I hope to have them mailed by the end of next week (Shutterfly should have them to me by Thursday *fingers crossed*). Here are a few out takes from the session:

our pretty tree

Brent giving Charlie a pep talk to look at the camera

Here's how much better things go when the camera is in my hand rather than on the tripod:

Tomorrow is a Big day. I am fortunate enough to take pictures of two precious families. I just pray the pictures turn out okay :) Brent and I will do church together then split up. I hate spending the day apart but he didn't feel like tagging along on my adventures. Instead he will be heading to the nursing home to visit his grandmother. He has prepared a tin of candy and a stuffed Christmas decoration animal to take to her. He really is the sweetest thing. 

We received our first Christmas card in the mail today and it was from the first family I took photos of earlier this year. I have to share it here because it made my day.