Christmas Card Photo Shoot {And A Contest!}

Christmas card season is upon us! How many of y'all send out physical cards to friends and family? We do, and I love that annual tradition - both sending them and being on the receiving end. Last weekend, my husband and I (and our dog, Jackson!) took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to take some photos for this year's card. My mom and dad helped us out by snapping the photos so I wouldn't have to rig up the old tripod :). We went to a few locations, all of which included old clapboard buildings (which I love!) and took a bunch of photos. So many turned out great! I thought I'd share a few with you today, along with some outtakes as well - gotta keep it real over here since we all know not every photo is a winner, haha. I'm saving the actual Christmas card photo for the cards I ordered, but I promise I'll share it eventually here on the blog.

Here are a few favorites from each location:

This last one isn't quite in focus, but I couldn't leave it out... :)

Then there are always a few outtakes when you have a photo shoot like this. Everything from awkward poses, to blinking, to being silly...it's all part of the fun in my book. We didn't have any epic awkward family photo moments, but the photos certainly weren't all perfect!

There's the "should you hold the dog, or should I?" moment:

The "what pose are we doing now?/I feel silly" moment:

The "I don't want to be here right now says the dog" moment:

And finally, the "I think we've lost it and we're done posing now so this is what you're going to get" moment:

Have you ever captured moments like these on camera during a Christmas card photo shoot? Or have you caught candid moments that show what's really going on behind the scenes of a shoot like this? How about an epic meltdown with Santa? Dog knocking over your tree? Well if you have, and you'd like to win some stuff off of those priceless moments caught on film, you're in luck, because Cardstore is holding a "Candid Christmas Cards" photo contest!

The grand prize winner will receive a $1,500 Visa gift card to put towards a holiday trip, a Nikon CoolPix camera, and free Cardstore Christmas cards to send out to their loved ones this holiday season! There are also prizes for second and third place. For more details and to enter to win, head on over here. The contest closes on 12/3, so hurry and get your entry in!

*This post was written in collaboration with Cardstore. All opinions, statements and photos are my own.