Community Chat

[Oznell]

Seeing the British Prince and Princess of Wales' new Christmas card made me want to look up some others.  This is entirely unserious, and I'm not evaluating these individuals as people, just the cards they send...

It's a pleasant family photo, but candidly, to me it's not Christmas-card-worthy.    Denim's fine, but eh, this is not my favorite...

This one is more like it, for my taste.  Let's dress up a little.  Although...  would it hurt to have injected a little green or red, ha.   ( I like blue too, but apparently not as much as they do.)

A little formality gets a bad rap...

The royals have a long history of careening back and forth from casual to more formal in their Christmas cards.

This one they sent one year is casual, even a bit kooky.  But it has personality, and a certain "oomph".

This one of all four of them is playful, yet somehow "special" and joyous.

A nice one from Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.  And no one was enforcing a "blue" rule...

Strictly from an aesthetic standpoint, I like this black and white one that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex used, I think for their first Christmas card together.  Harry and Meghan and fireworks.  It conveys an appropriately celebratory feeling ...

My favorite might be this one though, sent by King George and Queen Mary in 1914.  It's very sweet and sad too, because it is being sent to the troops, so many of whom fought and would not come back in World War I.   This royal couple dressed very carefully for their subjects, esp. on occasions such as these.

[Love my grandkids]

@Oznell I actually like the first one. The black and white is my least favorite and I see a resemblance to Queen Mary in Queen Elizabeth II. I think it's her facial expression and her nose, actually. Very pretty card, I really like that one.

[Sooner]

I think the first one is spot on for the time, place and situation. It says "a new era" and it says happy and close real family.  "Here we are, here are our kids, we are a real family and a happy family.  We are connecting with one another and with our jobs and country."

Simply brilliant!  

[BlueFinch]

Both photos are very nice, but neither scream --- or even whisper Christmas. Since they chose to go casual this year, I would like to have seen some holiday colors for their cards. Something fun that the kids could love, too. Although I doubt they'd ever settle for ugly holiday sweaters, or t-shirts :-).

[Chopsmom]

@Oznell 

I agree.  It is a pleasant family photo, but it's looks like they are going on a picnic.  The pic is just too "summertime" for a Christmas card.

My favorite is the 1918 card.  

[jonbon]

I know I've said this in previous discussions about holiday cards, but many people don't worry that the photo(s) included are not formal or done in "holiday" colors—they simply use a really nice photo (or photos) of their family members from the previous year. That's what I do. So it's not uncommon to see a photo from a special vacation or an activity that family members do together or a big event (graduation, etc.). I sometimes see a comment posted on social media that says, "Christmas card photo!" when someone shares a wonderful family vacation photo or something similar.

[Imaoldhippie]

I like them all and where is it written that a photo Christmas card has to have a Christmas theme or colors?  Its like saying you cant wear white after labor day.  

I like the more casual ones because it shows them as ordinary people.  They get plenty of dress up time that is shown to the public.  

Its a fact that you cant please everyone.

[PamfromCT]

I guess everyone has their ideas of portraits.  When we celebrated our 50th anniversary, our kids rented the grounds of an old historic home for the photo shoot.  Yes, there is a requirement to do so.  Lovely settings all around, including old stone walls, etc.  The photographer did a great job.

We wanted to be captured as we live.  Nothing stiff.  So we all wore our usual jeans and nice tops, except for our little granddaughter who wore a casual dress.  We even have a picture of us sitting in my DH’s classic convertible against the setting of an old barn.  The picture of us all sitting on narrow stone steps between two rock walls is my favorite.

[Lvqfan]

I love the casual photo.....especially loved seeing Kate in skinny jeans!  They're still my favorite and the most flattering jeans for me, too!

[chrystaltree]

It's a wonderful family picture but I don't care for it as a Royal Family Christmas card.