Christmas Card Pictures

Now, while I loved the family pictures we took in the fall, I didn't feel like they quite worked for the Christmas card.

I know you don't have to have Christmas pictures for the Christmas card, but I am a traditionalist in the sense that I do love those Christmasy Christmas cards.

My favorite was our first Christmas card, the year Mary came over and took pictures of the kids in front of the tree:

The following year, in 2011, I took my own Christmas pictures and liked that card, too:

Last year, I was a bah hambug or something.  I kinda skipped the whole Christmas card thing and sent New Year's cards. Weird. I did have this one card, which I sent to a few people, and while I love the picture, one of my other very favorites of the twins together, it wasn't the least bit Christmasy.

I remember now why I used this- look at that picture- how could I not? 

The New Year's Card is here:  photo card

This year we actually had two Christmas cards. One trendy, modern card which we sent to friends:

And, then, I took my own Christmas pictures and did a traditional card.

Here are some of this year's Christmas shots (the whole reason behind this post, though it's taken me a while to get to them):

Thanks to my friends at Google, this one is animated!

Google collaged this one for us. All I do is upload my individual pictures, and the next thing I know, it just appears this way. Isn't that crazy? Some are collaged, others have movement, sometimes the lights twinkle.  You never know what you're going to get.  (I think our elf Michael works for google during the off season and is secretly behind this.) 

Two sillies!

Huggy, huggy

Since I didn't have my blog back in 2010 when Mary took pictures of the twins for their first Christmas, I can't help but share some of my favorites (ok, more than a few):

Since I'm traveling down memory lane, if you're interested in seeing even more Anabella and Daniel pictures, here's what we have for 2011:  my Taking Pictures post

It's so fun to look at how much they've grown and changed from year to year.

And, last but not least, this year's "traditional" Christmas card:

Probably more Christmas pictures than you ever wanted to see (in mid January), but since this blog is Daniel and Anabella's online scrapbook of sorts, I do want them to see their Christmas cards from the early years (and hopefully appreciate how hard their Mommy worked to make them).  Who knows by the time they're old enough to send their own, they may all be sent online (I hope not).

One more Christmas post......coming soon.
Seriously?
Yep.