I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas cards. I love giving and receiving cards, but I really dislike the stress in the preparation of taking the card photo. It's really hard to take a "good" picture with two small kids (4 and 1 yr old), so this year I decided to NOT stress about it.
That's right. NO STRESS. No fuss on outfits, no big plans, no hiring photographers, no plans. No. Stress. We decided to go to our local park, and have my dad take our picture. {no fuss} I used our "mom cam" {canon rebel t5i}, and I had my dad use the "portrait" setting {it helps keep people in focus and background blurry}. For outfits, Mila and I wore our Easter outfits from this year, Bryan wore a sweater he had, and Caleb wore his Thanksgiving shirt. {no fuss}
At our picture location the kids were terrible. Mila wanted to play with the ducks {and then she fell and scraped her knee}, and Caleb wanted to act like his normal wild self and NOT take a picture. And I decided....I DON'T CARE. I don't. I'm tired of trying to be perfect. I'm tired of comparing my life to the perfect family {you know them, the ones with the perfectly behaved children with the clean house and fabulous stuff}. I'm done. I'm choosing GRACE, NOT PERFECTION.
There was not enough candy to get my kids to take a "good" picture. And I didn't care. My dad kindly asked, "do you want me to keeping trying?"....and I responded, "nope. Our friends getting our Christmas cards know my kids are wild. I don't care anymore.".
I can't wait to get our Christmas cards and mail them to our friends and family because I think they are PERFECT! They perfectly reflect my new motto of "grace not perfection". They perfectly represent our wild and imperfect family. And I LOVE it!
I found the best cards to go with my "this is our life with kids" idea on Tiny Prints. "seldom calm always bright"...Yep, there hasn't been a "Silent Night" in the Big K house in the past 4 years...and I'm ok with that.
I want to encourage you if you are stressed, or exhausted by the thought that you're late on ordering Christmas cards...STOP. Seriously. Use a photo you already have or ask a neighbor or friend to snap a quick photo. Let the kids be kids. Stop caring. I don't judge you. And at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what others think. The people receiving your cards already love you! Boom! Now go order your cards...or New Year's cards. ;-)
