Never work with children on animals they say. I’m not sure who “they” are  but at least once a year I have to disregard this advice for our Christmas photo which we use for our greeting cards. It is pot luck on whether you can get everyone looking at the camera and preferably smiling too. OK the cat doesn’t necessarily have to smile but you know what I mean.

The Christmas photo is where a tripod and and remote trigger prove to be invaluable though it is not so easy to find a shot where everyone is looking, nobody is gurning, and the remote trigger is not in clear view. Two out of three ain’t bad this year.

I have to admit that the 2013 photo has gone missing somewhere so the shot above is one of the better rejects that I could actually find. I deserve a slapped wrist for poor archiving.

BLATANT ADVERT ALERT – in the past we have used a well known website to create our Christmas cards however this year we were able to use a new site called www.giving.cards. Not only is it a far superior website and a better quality card but each card purchased generates a donation of at least 20p to your chosen charity. It may be a coincidence but I happen to be part of the team which created www.giving.cards. I know I am biased but it really is the bees knees and you can use it all year round for any occasion.

Beans was being a bit of a misery in the 2011 shot but everyone else is cracking a great smile.

I’m sure that we managed to crop out the potties from the 2010 shot when we created our actual card but it made it easier to keep the boys in the right place for a few minutes.

The 2009 shot is my favourite. Our boys were only 6 months old, it is a nice bright shot, four of us (including Beans the cat) are looking directly at the camera, but it is Lewis who is looking at Beans rather than at the camera who makes this a great shot.

Happy Christmas everybody!!!