After finally sitting down to address our Christmas cards the other night, I thought it would be fun to dip into the archives of old cards and photo shoots and see how we’ve evolved. An hour of folder digging later, I had quite a few observations including the recognition that after 12 years of coordinating outfits and performing the miraculous task of pulling a family photo off with everyone still loving each other, we’ve simplified things a bit. We are now a simple 2-sided flat card family as opposed to the accordian fold-out, flap-opening shenanigans we used to be able to pull off. Heidi takes our photo every year, and now I tell her, “Just take it quick, Anything will work.” I edit them the night we take them, quickly choose 2 good ones and plop them in a design. In an attempt to jazz up our flat card this year though, I did upgrade to “ultra thick” which I found out when my cards arrived basically means they print them on 2 x 4’s. Which is great because you can save it and use it for a paper weight later.
Alright, let’s dig into these observations, shall we?
Let’s start with 2007.
Lainey’s first card, self timer in our living room. We thought we were being super cute and that no one had ever thought to put their baby in a box before. Look at us, we are so creative! Also of note: I had not yet learned about proper saturation adjustments or I would have removed the Oompa Loompa top right (not naming names here).
Moving on.
2010, the year Nella was born.
She had recently been prescribed glasses which at the time I thought was devastating because I was still a bit of a precious snowflake who easily broke then. Whatever, we evolve. We all ended up wearing glasses in solidarity with Nella even though she was very likely thinking, “This is not a big deal, you guys are ridiculous.” That’s not what I want to talk about here though. What I want to know is, why am I dressed like a showgirl, and why did I not realize that my skirt grazed my panty line? To make matters worse, the low angle. I mean, we might as well have just put the camera under my skirt. That said, Lainey looks adorable, and this marked the beginning of the stripes that have appeared in every card since.
2011
Dear God, where do I begin? I have so much to say. For one, chevron was in. That’s about the only thing that was in about this card. I don’t know what’s happening with Brett’s sport coat and jeans. And the stool. Did we bring that from home? Why am I squatting? And what am I wearing? Is that a sailor shirt? And pilgrim shoes? Most important though, THE HAIR. It’s an As Seen on TV BUMP IT.
But wait. Look at the one we didn’t use. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? Brett’s face? My pose. Is Nella sleeping? Were we all drunk? 2012 can’t come fast enough.
(But wait. We made up for it in the inside.)
Okay, 2011 and 2012, respectively.
2012 is one of my favorite cards ever. I was so ridiculously happy, super pregnant and consequently had great hair. We took that photo in the woods behind our house, and I barely had to hold on to Nella because she sat on my stomach like a shelf. 2012 was Dash’s first card appearance (and I love that color combination) which brings me to the next observation. The Hampton Family Card Shoot changed for good when Dash came along. Let’s dig into that, shall we?
Hampton Family Card Shoot BTS, post Dash:
We usually find a way to tie it all into our card, like the year we used “Dash away, dash away, dash away all!” on the back…
That was also the year that Austyn was way into yoga, and we attempted to incorporate it in the card. Needless to say, we didn’t go that route.
We pulled off one where Dash was smiling, thanks to a plane he spotted in the sky (you can see the reflection in the glass)…
…and used the wriggling ones because they were “us.”
2014 was one of my favorite years. My friend Jen had given me an idea earlier in the year, and it was perfect for our family.
Thought we couldn’t top it, but 2015 was even more fun.
The fact that I got Sophie and Latte to both look at the camera at the same time, considering neither of them could see or hear, was nothing short of a miracle. Not that it didn’t take a couple tries. Sophie just laid there for the first few shots.
The inside was my favorite family photo shoot ever.
We hit our peak that year, and I don’t know that we’ll ever top it.
The following year, Heidi was meeting us to take our photos but got stuck in horrendous traffic, so we handed the camera to my friend Amy who was with us. I told her where to focus, she took about four shots, and this is what we ended up with. Not bad for plan B.
Last year, it rained and the sky was super gray, but I didn’t want to cancel because it was too hard getting all of us together with the boys’ schedules. Another one in the “You get what you get” book for us.
…which finally brings us to this year. We found out Austyn was moving to Colorado right before Halloween (he’s coming back! Yay!), and I really wanted the boys on the cover of our card with us because we’re not complete without them. So we threw a five-minute shoot together in our back woods the day before he left.
We did a few more family photos a couple weeks ago on the most perfect night to finish off 2020.
Jennifer Reil says
That was so fun! I love looking back over our Christmas photos through the years too. This year is our last year with our twins living under our roof and I can’t even stand it! But, they will come home for Christmas again and life will move forward beautifully (but man, mamas’ hearts are so tender!).
sarah r hutchins says
Oh my goodness. This was so much fun, and I was cry-laughing through some of the early years. I’m a devoted family Christmas card sender myself, and we could tell a similar story. Merry Christmas to all!
Nicole Ubben says
I laughed so hard reading through much of this. Isn’t is so fun, funny and humbling to look back at ourselves from years ago and see how much we’ve grown and changed?! Thanks for always, always keeping it real and true!