Every year, I take the girls to Portrait Innovations for pictures at Christmas time, for several reasons. First, the photographers are great and willing to put up the with Princess and Pirate's antics. Second, it means I've gotten "official" photos of the girls at least once that year (just don't ask if I've ever gotten the photos scrapbooked, okay?). And third, it is an easy way to get some Christmas cards made, and the relatives we don't see often enough can see how much the kids have grown since last year, blah, blah, blah. I find most portraits rather boring, to be honest, so I try to come up with something to make the pictures a little more entertaining...
One year, the Princess was "reading" to the Pirate, and their expressions were what made it so cute. One year they wore angel wings, another year they spelled out JOY with huge 3-D cardboard letters, a year later I had the Princess standing with a star on her head and the Pirate in a gift bag on the ground next to her. This year, I stuck ribbon bows all over the Pirate, tied the Princess up with more ribbon, and handed the loose end to the Pirate, who was FAR too pleased with this captured sister... so the Princess decided to put her foot down...