Beautiful.

Wonderful pix!

See now, there's the difference between a cat and a dog right there. You tell the dog to sit in front of the tree, and there he is, all perfect and everything. If you tell a cat that, the photo would show the tree toppling over and the cat buried somewhere in the branches... So instead you tell the kids to HOLD the cat in front of the tree, and since you're trying to take a photo, and cats don't like being told what to do and where to do it, the cat will crawl up the side of the kid's head, the kid will scream and cry, fall into the tree, and well... I think you can see where this is going....

HAHAHAHAHA!!! OMG bestyears what a mental image you painted. Now THAT would be a Christmas card to remember!

whitdobe -I have years and years of trying to incorporate our cats into the annual Christmas photo. We were looking at some of our old holiday photos recently, and there was one year (I think the kids were about 7 and 11), and each are holding a cat. I cannot imagine HOW we didn't notice, but one of the cats, who admittedly is hanging on a bit precariously to the four year old, has a screaming-devil look on her face! Fangs bared, mouth agape in a hideous snarl, ears back. I don't know how we didn't notice till now! People must have thought, "What the...?

Jovi is such a cutie!

Guys it's all in the training.......

Too funny! Reading this last night I look up and there is moose sitting under the tree posing so nicely! lol!

Isn't cat psychology kinda like kid psychology? "I don't want to catch you sitting near the Xmas tree!"

bestyears, your descriptions of your photo op gone awry are great. But I think your card recipients thought "hey, look at this, they managed to get the cat in the picture!". Not "hey, look at this, why did they use a picture of a possessed cat on their card?"

Looking at Jovi's adorable picture I can't help but think s/he just saw something pretty stunning. Santa maybe? I wish I could look as alert and interested in Xmas.

hhireno, Jovi's rapt expression is due to the stick of string cheese I'm holding in my hand. String cheese, chicken or a tennis ball are great motivators for her! Now you know my "secret" technique! :-)

deedee, Moose looks so cozy curled up under your tree!

bestyears, I wish I could see that photo! I agree with hhireno, I'll bet folks were impressed that you got your cats into the photo!

whitdobe,
sometimes, around this time of day, I too would look at you like that if you held string cheese in front of me.

Jovi is adorable!

I posted this on the Christmas tree thread, but here are my fur kids

These were Molly and Bailey's suggestions for their Christmas picture:

An embarrassing amount of time later, these were the good ones!

Here's the photo of Jake that I included on our Christmas Card

Jovi is such a doll!

This is more candid than posed but they are in front of the tree!

Now this is posed but I couldn't get Tommy to sit still so Lola was flying solo:

Kristinekr, what wonderful photos of your kids! I have to say that I'm really impressed that you got your cats to "sit pretty" for the camera!

Beaglesdoitbetter, your whole post made me smile. A lot. Looks like Molly and Bailey were having all kinds of fun during your photo session! You did get some nice photos.

Dawnp, those eyes! The lights in the background are Christmassy, but Jake's eyes are so soulful. Must be hard to resist him when he wants something!

Kellyeng, Lola and Tommy are beautiful! I like your candid photo with both of them. The posed one with Lola only is really good! Lola looks like she's smiling!

This way my Katie who did know how to smile on command.

Oh my gosh Natesgram, look at that smile. Katie did that on command? Fabulous!

Great photos, everyone! Me? I'm trying my best to keep Jack away from the tree this year! Maybe next year we can try for a photo sitting. I like my ornaments and don't want him to eat any.

Natesgram, we are teaching Jack how to smile too. Started out teaching his body parts. "Eyes, belly, foot, ears, nose, teeth." If I put his lips up when I say teeth, he tries to keep him that way. I figure eventually he will get it.

The Vet appreciated my 'belly' command (he turns on his back) because they said he was extremely easy to to Xray, time after time.

Golddust, that's the same way we taught Katie to smile. We even taught her to sneeze when we asked if she had a cold. She was so smart! Hope your Jack is feeling better.

I also posted this on the tree thread. Amos and Andi are 5 years old and are brother and sister. They learned "place" in puppy school and I used it the first year to get a good Christmas picture. Now each year when I pull out their jingle bell collars and say "place" they go directly to the fireplace and sit on the stoop. Asher is 29 months and I had more trouble getting him to stay in place than the pups!

There is no way in H E double L that Jack is getting anywhere near my tree. He did allow me to take a picture this evening.

(DH is calling him 'Jacked A#s" right now.)

mboston, Amos and Andi are both adorable but Asher steals the scene! What a beautiful boy he is!!

HAHAHAHA!!! Golddust, I love Jack in his hat! His eyes are so expressive. I don't blame you at all for not letting him anywhere near your tree!!! And hey....you did take put the hat away too so that he couldn't decide to nibble that?

I texted this picture to Aimee with the caption: Merry Christmas from a Jacked Ass.

Wonderful pictures, everyone! Pets were the one thing I didn't include in this year's Christmas picture. I'd hoped to get in a photo of Peachy the kitten, but even she got bumped. With a wedding and a new grandson in our news, my collage was crowded.

For those who don't know me (that includes almost everybody, I think), my daughter got married on top of a mountain this year, and my son and his wife had a baby. My two grandchildren are in the lower right corner, and my son's new house (next door to me!) is at lower left.

Dundee and Dixie Christmas 2011

I don't send picture cards but if I did, it would be this one I took tonight. It never fails, as soon as the kitchen light comes on, Miss Lizzie has to have a drink of water.

Alisande, wow with all of that going on in your family this year I can see why Peachy got bumped. I love your family photo collage!

Nanny2a, Dundee and Dixie are just adorable! They're Westies aren't they? Love the tree in the background and their kerchiefs!

Oakleyok, well naturally Miss Lizzie prefers her water "fresh"! Very cute photo, I love the way you've decorated your windowsill.

My DD's Baby....

I love these. I wish I could meet your pets in person!

Here is one of the pictures we have for Christmas:

Awe, Anele. We are just a bunch of empty nesters sharing our pets. BUT LOOK AT YOUR beauties! So beautiful. Have you gotten any closer to a name yet?

I hope you keep us posted and when that new baby comes, we want pictures!

Gorgeous girls!!

Wish me luck -going to try to wrangle the two teens and four cats into a photo today, just in time to upload to Snapfish, print, and mail! That's not a difficult enough assignment apparently, because 16 yo dd insists each of the cats wears an outfit..... this is gonna be good.... Might need some spiked eggnog afterwards.

Might need some spiked eggnog afterwards...or before...;)

Might need some spiked eggnog afterwards...or before...;)

But for you or the cats...or both?

Can't wait to see the end results.

Aaaah, the eggnog was great!

Here's how it went...

BabyCat is as usual clueless. "Hello, the camera is this way."

Everybody is thinking the same thing, "I'm OUTTA here!"

Down to one cat and she's makin' a break for it.

Wrestled her back but she ain't happy...

...and we're down to one cat and no holiday outfits, but we're calling it a wrap!

OMG, Best. Beautiful photo shoot!! Beautiful children! Raise your shoulders with pride. (wish I looked like that with as much knowledge I have. It doesn't seem to go together somehow.)

Fabulous kids--and cats!! Love the photos.

Thanks you guys -I forgot to mention the fourth cat never even made it into ONE picture! She was having none of it. And since she tends to make her opinions known with a hiss, a spit, a sharp-edged swipe of her paw, we don't argue with that one....

Well, we sent a collage card with 6 separate small pics of our 6 "kids" because there was no way I could get them to all pose together on one shot! Here are the pics from our card this year.

Here are our three plus our new daughter-in-law-to-be (we're so excited!). Not Xmas-y, but it's all we had :)

Well. Being an empty nester, I can't compete with your beautiful children but there is no way Isabelle can be left out of the smashed face Christmas Club, Sueb. (Even if I have to pretend this was our Xmas card photo.)

Gosh, so many gorgeous offspring on this board -both the two-footed and the four-footed kind...

oh my bestyears,
I can't believe how calm your (very attractive) children look next to the maniacal looking cat. I'm afraid of being scratched just looking at that picture.

Thank you to everyone for sharing your cards, there are so many wonderful photos of kids & animals.

I probably mentioned this before but my sister received a photo card from her friends, just the adults and not the kids or pets. They wrote something clever about how everybody has cute kids and pets but how are the adults holding up? It was funny and pretty bold, since after a certain age many of us aren't willing to share photos of greying, aging selves with old high school friends.