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Christmas morning – the most magical culmination of so much preparation and anticipation.
If your kids are anything like mine, they are counting down the days until Christmas morning.
And, if you’re anything like me, you are working hard to make Christmas morning as magical as possible.
Personally, I think that Christmas morning is the most challenging time to capture – regardless if it’s in photos or videos. (And yikes if you are trying to do both – am I right?)
I feel like it’s almost impossible to find a balance between wanting to capture the kids’ excitement and reactions and emotions – all while still being present and in-the-moment and actually enjoying Christmas morning (and not making it stressful).
Want in on a secret?
I have a lot of anxiety going into Christmas morning.
I want to not only savor and soak up every single moment, but I also want to capture it so I can remember it forever. There is so much pressure!
And, I’d dare to bet that you feel the same way.
So, here we go: these are my BEST tips for capturing Christmas morning (whether you’re taking photos or videos or both)
— Be Intentional
Create the Christmas morning that you want – don’t let the frantic pace that sometimes comes with Christmas morning overwhelm you and take over.
Don’t be afraid to tell everyone they have to slow down.
Don’t be afraid to ask your spouse to take some photos & videos of you.
If you want Christmas music playing, turn something on.
If you want everyone to open gifts one by one, ask everyone to take turns.
Be intentional about your morning – don’t let it slip away from you!
Take a few minutes to envision what you want Christmas morning to look like, talk about it with your spouse, and then work toward making it happen.
— Prepare Everything The Night Before
As you’re finishing putting the presents under the tree – take a few minutes to gather what you’ll need for Christmas morning. This would include your real camera (with fresh batteries and an empty memory card ready to roll), a tripod (if you have one), and anything else you might need (a flash for your camera, a selfie stick, etc.) Having everything laid out and ready to go the night before means that you can wake up and move straight into opening gifts (the less frazzled and stressed we can make Mom, the better!)
*BONUS TIP: make sure your phone has plenty of empty space to record photos and videos! If that means you need to do a quick dump onto your computer on Christmas Eve – so be it! Literally nothing is worse than getting the message that your phone is full and you can’t record any more videos half-way through opening gifts!
— A Phone Tripod Will Be Your Best Friend
Phone tripods are relatively cheap and chances are, you already have one. Pull it out, set it up in a corner, and simply let it record!
I like to set my phone up on a tripod and let it record our reactions to walking into the room our Christmas Tree is in on Christmas morning. I usually let it record for the first few minutes of opening gifts, and then I pull it down to take more close-up, specific videos.
It’s no secret that I’m a HUGE fan of phone tripods – I have quite the collection of them! If you don’t have one that you love or don’t have one at all, THIS is the one I’d suggest getting! It’s INSANELY versatile, folds up incredibly small, and can be set up anywhere (we used ours HEAVILY at the Grand Canyon a few weeks ago!) I’m quite obsessed!
— Let Go Of Your Expectations
Here’s the bad news: you are not going to be able to record or capture everything.
You can try, but moments will slip through your fingers and get missed – and that’s okay. If you’re the parent who wrapped the gifts, you probably have a solid idea which ones will garner the best reactions – plan to capture those moments and then simply sit back and enjoy the others. Whatever you capture will be wonderful and whatever you don’t will live on in your memories.
