Christmas

I’m finding that more and more people are following the trend of giving money to charity in lieu of sending Christmas cards.  Even Daisy’s school has changed their views on exchanging cards.  I used to love getting cards from my friends at school. It was really exciting posting cards into the red school post box. Then waiting eagerly for your card delivery; it was fun.  I personally love designing and sending my cards, which gives me that same feeling I did as a child.  

Since Daisy arrived I started making photo cards, which seems to be another American tradition that has crossed the pond.  The first year my photo cards weren’t so great, I thought they were good at the time, but knew there was room for improvement.  The year I felt I nailed it was 2013.  It was a cold morning down at the local beach.  Dog walkers kept getting in the way and making the steps all wet with paw prints, but we got there in the end.

I’ve already posted out our family cards for this year and it’s surprisingly really easy to do!  I use a company called SNAPFISH and mostly use the lay flat design.  On the run up to the festive period you can find lots of discount codes available online, so you can get a really good deal.  When I started making photo cards I would aim to take my photos in November.  However, over the years with the unpredictable Scottish weather I soon realised I should actually take these photos in the October school holidays to avoid getting stressed over lack of time and crappy weather.  It’s hard to fit photo shoots in with Daisy’s busy schedule.  I don’t even have all weekends these days as she goes to stay with her dad.  I felt stuck this year and was worried I wouldn’t get my photos and it’s become a bit of a family tradition, so I want to keep it going.  Daisy features on the front of the card which is a good idea because it lets people keep up to date with how she's growing, not everyone sees her regularly.   

This year I wanted cute outdoor shots like previous years.  I shopped for an outfit, a fawn leopard print coat from Monsoon with woollen poncho and skinny jeans, but the weather was not on my side and I found I was constantly washing and scrubbing her skinny jeans. I decided I needed to prepare a studio set up with an alternative outfit as a back up in case I couldn’t get outside.  I had been hoping to get photos of Daisy and I together like I did last year with Sarah Ferry since I never seem to be in any photos with Daisy.  This year I had the perfect photography prop at my disposal; my 1974 Bay Window camper van called Gaston.  Luckily Sarah had some space in her diary and agreed to take the photos I had been thinking about.  With two possible lots of images for our family card I had to decide what one to go with.  Daisy decided she wanted my indoor shots and I really liked Sarah’s ones, so we compromised and printed some of both. 

Daisy also made a snowman card at school from a drawing.  You can see it at the top of the page.  The school use a company to turn the drawings into cards, dishtowels, mugs and gift tags etc.  The money raised though the sale of the items goes towards school funds.  

Lots of people love cards, just yesterday I saw an old lady at the checkout in the local supermarket.  She joked that she must have left over cards in the house for every year she's bought them, this was as she was picking up another pack.  She said she loves sending and receiving cards, hear that people, she loves it. People still love getting Christmas cards from family and friends.  For some elderly people, they may even look forward to it. 

Here's some of our past and present photo cards to look at.

© Sarah Ferry Photography