Merry Christmas!!!

I knew it would take a lot to top last year's card - and I waited too long to think about it. So, this year's card is definitely not nearly as good as the awesome that we created last year, but oh well. At least it still showcases how adorable my dogs are :)
I love the whole 'ugly sweater' fad - the parties, the exchanges, everything. It's fun :) So - that was my idea [and Brandon willingly played along]. Finding sweaters for us was really easy, but there aren't ANY ugly toddler sweaters - I think the sheer size of them makes them adorable by default. So the dogs just got patterned shirts - still works!
Anytime you try to do anything productive with dogs, it takes some work. A lot of work. Here are some outtakes of the shoot that led up to the final photos:
First I wanted to get a shot of just to two of them for my mom's annual Sadie calendar [a tradition 5 years strong!]

"guys, come on - pay attention!"
[and it was at this point I thought that they didn't look festive enough]

the bow fixes it :) "Sadie - are you squinting on purpose?! that's two in a row!"

"Rocky - stoppit! you guys can play later! Focus!"

*sigh* "You guys. Please?"

"Perfect!"

[in case you were wondering what got them to look at me and turn their heads - I said "Do you WANT?" they know any time I ask them if they want. . . . they get something good :)]

Now for the family photo. . .

"Sadie - knock it off! That's not a toy!"

Not bad - the dogs never really cooperated together. No one at the camera to get their attention, ya know. But you can see how fabulous my sweater was - Santa's beard was solid beads :) and he had red beads that were supposed to be rosy cheeks but looked like chicken pox, and his eyes were black circles with x's in them - drunk Santa.

So we tried again and finally came up with something. Behold this year's Christmas Card:

[front]

[inside]

The photo is pretty fitting - Rocky's never been interested in having his photo taken. He was done. I am pretty proud of the poem, too :)

I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday! I'm heading out of town today, and not taking my computer :) Just spending time with family [and eating and drinking a lot!]