The Christmas Card Debacle of 2013 | Anchors Aweigh

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December 12, 2013

The Christmas Card Debacle of 2013

This may be a southern thing, but my family has sent out Christmas cards ever since I can remember. When Parker and I got married, I was so excited for our first Christmas for many reasons. One was to send out our very own Christmas card to loved ones. Parker didn't necessarily share the enthusiasm right off the bat, but 3 Christmases into this marriage and I think I've about got him trained to care about the Christmas card. ;)

I wanted our Christmas card to reflect where we lived that year. Last year we took our picture at Pensacola beach, this year I wanted it to reflect Kingsville, and next year...I'm just praying we are still in America. Anyway, I digress. Kingsville, Tx is a small town, but Parker had a neat idea to take the picture on the Naval base next to a water tower that reads "Fly Navy- NAS Kingsville". I actually hated the idea at first, but I have got to learn to trust my husband because he is always right about these kinds of things. We enlisted my mother to take the picture, and she got a few good ones!

So here's where we completely overcomplicated things...

It was nearly impossible to focus the camera on the water tower while also keeping the three of us in focus, so Parker took some focused pictures of the water tower while my mom focused the camera on us.

This is the original picture we chose to use. That flyaway strand of hair on my head bugged me, so Parker saw an opportunity. You see, my husband happens to be a picture-editing ninja. He used Gimp and proceeded to spend the afternoon doing the following:

Original picture on the left, first edit on the right


Now that my hair was tamed, he went after the water tower. The water tower was visible in the picture above, but it wasn't very legible. Remember when I mentioned Parker focused a couple of shots on the lighthouse specifically? So he took this shot... (don't mind me as I smile thinking my husband is actually taking a picture of me and the dog)


...and placed it into this photo. Voila! No flyaway hair and a legible water tower!


After a little cropping, the original and the final version:


Pretty impressive huh? I have to give my husband mad props for this one because I could have never edited the picture like he did. If you have received a Christmas card from us, you may be shaking your head because the final version isn't the picture we sent out. Thankfully Parker enjoyed the editing and didn't feel like he was wasting his time, because after all that work...


We chose this one.

Are we ridiculous or what?! We had completely ruled this picture out originally because it didn't have the water tower and Jenny wasn't smiling. Here was our reasoning behind switching: Though Parker did a great job editing the picture, I felt like it looked as if someone had put us in front of a green screen of sky. Parker swears I told him to make it an all sky background (I have no recollection of this), but we women change our minds 50 times in an hour. When I put that picture into our card template, it just didn't look right. I also like that this picture we chose is just us. It's simple, but it's us. Third, though she has the greatest pupper life ever, Jenny is the most unimpressed pup around. Sending a picture of her smiling is almost false advertising.

So that was the Christmas card debacle of 2013. I know, we're ridiculous. We take our Christmas card seriously around here, apparently!

23 comments :

Melissa said...

bahahaha I love this! I can't wait to be able to send Christmas cards with Ryan next year. I'm already looking at our wedding announcements as our first opportunity ;)

Rachel Lynn said...

The whole story is hilarious. I'm glad you picked one you liked. Mine wasn't quite so complicated, but it did involve a run-away puppy.....silly dogs.

My Wholesome Home

Jamie Hart said...

You both photograph so beautifully (ahem.. Parker is beautifully handsome). And I just love that I can see Pensacola in your blog posts! Your "family" photo is absolutely perfect!! XOXO

Kirst Semler said...

He has some awesome editing skills that is for sure! Your picture turned out so great! I love christmas cards! That was also a tradition in our family! For three christmas' this is the first year we have been able to send them out so I am so excited!! Merry Christmas!

Amanda Patten said...

so funny, end picture is awesome love your dogs face, its priceless, I always take pictures and this year opted Christmas card only, kinda sad, but next year we will take a family picture dog and all. Have a great holiday season, enjoy!!

Karla said...

LOL! I'm the same way. Xmas cards every year, they need to be perfect..etc. I LOVE this picture. I think it's my favorite pic of your little family. You are gorgeous!! =D

Ashley said...

Too funny! The final edit and the picture you chose are both nice, but I think I agree that it looks like y'all were green screened into the edited picture. I hope your cards turn out wonderfully.

Katie said...

This is great! I tried to photoshop our Christmas card last year. We used a picture that was taken of us at the Air Force Ball - the only problem was that there was a random person awkwardly staring at the camera behind my shoulder. But otherwise the picture was great! So I watched lots of youtube videos and finally figured out how to crop that person's head/body out of our picture. Photoshop is definitely something that I want to learn about about someday! The picture you ended up going with is lovely! :)

Brianna said...

I completely agree with your decision to switch! It definitely fits 'yall' - including your sweet pup! What a gorgeous picture of a gorgeous family! I'm sure your family and friends just loved receiving such a sweet Christmas card!

I'm all about the Christmas card! Seriously! (definitely a southern thing I guess haha). However, time just got away from us this year and we weren't able to get a picture done in time...so prepackaged glitter cards it was!

Kate at Green Fashionista said...

Love it! And your pup couldn't be more adorable :)

Anonymous said...

That's too funny! I love the card you chose to send out (and mad props to Parker for his editing skills!) I can't wait to send out Christmas cards but I probably won't until I'm married. It just seems like a married person thing to me lol

Tammy Jo said...

I love the pictures and he did a GREAT job with editing them.

Kaysie said...

This is so funny, but awesome that you've got those skills on hand. I may have commented about this before to you, but we got married in Pensacola! I love when people know that little corner of Florida :)

Diane @ DD Kimball Road said...

Hence why the hubs and I never send out Christmas cards! Too much of a hassle! Haha!

Happily Ever Parker said...

These are too cute and I am seriously impressed with his editing skills!

Ashley @ A Cute Angle said...

He did a great job! I'm completely obessessed with Christmas cards too! I did a Christmas letter this year!

~Ashley @ A Cute Angle
http://acutelifestyle.blogspot.com

Stephanie said...

He did a great job with the editing! And at least you can get him to do the picture. My husband hates being behind the camera, so our cards are just of the dogs. That's ok, because they are pretty darn cute lol.

~Anchored In Christ~ said...

its still awesome and he did awesome editing. what did he use to edit it. J/w miss hearing from you chicka.

Jessa @ Life of A Sports Wife said...

i love these pictures. I am a bad southern lady & we haven't done Christmas cards since we have been married. oops.

Jasam said...

OMG! I am so jealous right now because I wanted to get some Holiday cards done for our first year being a family of three! Glad that things worked out for you guys. You picked the best one(in my opinion).

Elizabeth Lynn said...

Ahhh these are so cute! Kudos to your husband on the fantastic editing job, even if you didn't end up using it!!!

Susannah said...

Wow, Parker's got skill!!! I agree, though, it does kinda look like a green screen. I love the one you ended up picking. :-)

Amy said...

dang - mad props to him because I wouldn't have had all of that patience hahaha.
but I do love the one that y'all chose!

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