Every year Lisa asks me to take some pictures of James and Abi for our annual Christmas Card.

Now you would think that this would be a fun task, I mean, I like taking photographs and I love my kids right? Well yes both are true but wow do they not go together.

For many years getting a smile out of James was a major challenge, these day’s he’s miles better, but still capturing shots of my kids that look nice for a card is a major challenge for me.

I’m really bad at “keeping my cool” and “being nice” and have found myself losing it a little which really doesn’t help the shoot.

So that’s how it usually goes anyway. This year however was a surprise. James had a shower (he’s always showering he’s the cleanest teenager I’ve ever met – but he never does this kind of thing for me when I ask) and put on a nice shirt. He smiled when asked at all the right times and I got some nice pictures of him.

Abi also played along, she smiled also when asked and even posed in different locations around the house.

At the end we got some lovely shots – even got one of James and Abi holding the Dog!

Maybe the bad years are behind me and things will be better from now on 🙂 – yeah right!

Here are the four pictures we picked.