Christmas with the Kranks

Yesterday, being the first day of December, I decided that it was high time we get our Christmas photo completed. My parents came over to help and amidst much laughter at the dog's outfits we managed to get a few decent pictures. People ask me how we managed it and it was mostly a matter of bribery and patience.

The first few photos my Dad took were to illustrate the general mayhem we were dealing with. Initially the dogs were completely baffled by the proceedings and ended up pretzeling a few times but eventually as they got sick and tired of the exercise they just lay down in defeat.

Once in position there were some wardrobe malfunctions as Leeloo's antler's kept falling off and Raimi kept removing his beard. Archer wouldn't sit which was annoying because we'd been working on that very command the week prior to this event. My mom pointed out that it seems he needs more practice.

In the end we got about 4 successful photos that show the dogs at their absolute cutest. These are a couple that I particularly like. Raimi's expression in this one is priceless, he does not portray as jolly a Santa as one would hope(his beard just sleighs me - ahem - slays). Leeloo, with her big round doe eyes, is perfect for a reindeer - not to mention the legs you can't see. Archer the elf looks bored but it doesn't take much for his sharp little brain to get tired of one activity and want to move on to the next. And here we all are looking interested and alert, moderately cheerful and in the holiday spirit. We used a gingerbread cookie as a bribe and managed to get everyone looking the part but at least it was an appropriately festive bribe. Thank doG I decided against wrangling a cat in there as well ...

Happy holidays to all this Christmas season!