Burns Family Christmas Card 2019

But First, Backstory

Those of you who are longtime Burnsland readers know that we like to do a non-traditional Christmas card each year. We like to send out something that we have created on our own, something that is just a little special, and perhaps different from everyone else. Something unique. You can see some of those past Christmas cards here.

This year, we had trouble for a while coming up with something to do, and then something not quite pleasant happened.

For our church’s Fall Festival, Laura and I had been asked to dress up for a 15-minute segment in the photo booth. It was suggested that we be Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and so that is what we came up with, knowing full well that we did not look anything like the real Mickey and Minnie. It was just something fun to do.

However, automobile problems prevented us from getting there. Nothing serious, just a broken serpentine belt. So we were a little disappointed because we were excited about our costumes.

But this cloud has a silver lining, because Laura eventually said, “Why don’t we use those costumes for our Christmas card?” Because Jaylin was not in our photo booth group, he did not have a similar costume. We talked about a few options, and we decided that he should just be a Disney tourist with Mickey and Minnie. And that we should be standing in front of a castle or something similar. And that set us off and running.

The Photo

The first thing we needed was a photo of us. So we dressed up in our costumes, and I set up the camera in the den. Self-timers on cameras are a great thing! Here is our photo that we came up with:

Never mind the stuff in the background or the fact that the photo isn’t quite level! That can all be taken care of:

So with that, we just needed a background, and then we were done. I set to work on it, and here is the final card:

We ended up standing in front of a Disney-like castle with some Christmas-like fireworks above it. Simple, but I like it. You can probably guess, but the left is the front and the right is the back.

We did throw in an extra photo of the two of us on the back, just for fun. I think we were lucky to get Jaylin in one photo with us at all.

Reindeer Games

If you checked some of those old cards, you might know that a Reindeer has appeared on our cards for the last several years. Just another something fun to add on there. I always try to have him do something that goes along with our card. So here is a better look at him for this year:

At first, I just had the Mickey ears on him. But as I was about to send out the cards for printing, I decided to make a last-minute change and add the shorts and gloves, too. All of those - the shorts, ears, and gloves, were taken from the photo of us. I figured it was easier to photoshop those onto him than to try to draw them. And it looks even funnier with him wearing real shorts and gloves, too. At least to me.

So there you have it. When it was all over, Jaylin said, “Why don’t we just take a normal family photo for our Christmas card like everyone else does?” I guess because we just aren’t like everyone else! So why bother trying?

I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Oh, and if you would like to be added to our Christmas card mailing list, just fill out this handy form! Thanks!