It’s the final day of National Adoption Awareness Month. I hope you have enjoyed my blogs on this topic and took part in some of the ideas for adoption awareness. It was fun to write about them.

For a final event to celebrate the month, have a family picture taken. You can choose to have a formal portrait done, or have some fun.

Most people are getting ready to send out their holiday cards soon. Some people are really on the ball and already have them out. I’m lucky to get them out before the end of the year. You can include one of these pictures in your holiday cards. You know your friends and family would love to see them.

What can you do to “jazz up” your family photo?

Black and white – I love black and white pictures. Some times they can give a plain photo a dramatic look. Try taking some in both color and black and white and see what you think.

Hobbies or sports – Do you have something your family likes to do? Do you love skiing? Playing baseball? Being on the water? Incorporate this into your family photo. If you like to ski, hold your skis and have your hats and gloves on. If you’re water people, have everyone with their feet in a kids pool full of water. Be creative with it.

Matching or similar clothes – Many families like to wear matching clothes or in the same color family. One year when we did the FULL family photo for my grandparents (about 40 of us in the photo) we all wore denim, but the girls wore denim jumpers with a fall color shirt underneath it.

Use nature – We live out in the country and have a woods near our house. The leaves are on the ground and the pine trees still have their green needles. This makes a great background for a photo. If you have different colors in your background, keep your clothing choices simple.

Be silly – Some of the best pictures are the candid ones. We have posed pictures that we have done pictures with professional photographers, posed pictures that we have taken, but my favorite pictures of my kids are still the ones where they are acting silly. Grandparents love to see the grandkids “being themselves”. You can even try putting costumes on. Mr. and Mrs. Claus and the elves or if you have a favorite movie you can dress as the characters in the movie.

Holiday backgrounds – We have a family tradition of taking our picture in front of our Christmas tree. We usually take it before we go to church on Christmas Eve or later in the day on Christmas Day. We don’t do it in the middle of chaos. It is fun to see how we have grown and changed through the years.

Pets – Your pets are part of the family too, so feel free to add them to the photo. This only works if you have pets that are willing to sit still and “pose”.

Whatever you decide to do, remember the personalities of everyone in the photos and work with it. Trying to get your fourteen year old son who normally wears baggy clothes into a suit and tie for the photo is probably going to be a struggle. Work with what you can, and let the rest go.

Photo credit – Our family picture taken for our church directory