Jake, Ethan and Lisa Lahm of Lawrence knew they wanted to take their holiday card photo outdoors.

Picking out clothes for 9-month old Sonomi Klaus' first holiday card shoot was tough for mom Roxanne Klaus.

The Martin kids, Rider, 5, Lola, 3, and Kellar, 1 week, line up for family portraits. Mom Lisa Martin says her most successful holiday card featured Rider and Lola bawling from the stress of the whole experience.

It was a holiday card for the ages. Two cute little faces, framed by warm hats, gazing into the camera, rosy-cheeked, adorable and ripe for both the holidays … and a total meltdown.

“It was a close-up of them with their snow hats on, and they were both like screaming and crying hysterically. My daughter was 3 months old and my son was 2 and it was hilarious,” Lisa Martin says of the picture she had professionally taken a few years ago for her holiday cards. “And I just thought, you know what, if I couldn’t get the perfect picture, I’m going to take this and make the best with it. And it turned into the biggest hit. Everybody still talks about that Christmas card.”

Whether you’ve already taken your yearly shot, are still putting it off, or plan to wait until the big day itself, getting the right picture to immortalize the year can be one of the hardest tasks of the season – if you let it.

But it doesn’t have to be something more dreadful than expired eggnog. Here are some tips from the pros on how to get just the right shot of your family, no matter when you take it.

• Warm everybody up. This isn’t school photo time, don’t just sit and smile and call it quits, start interacting with each other and give it time says Melissa Daggett, owner of Milestones by Melissa. “I definitely go for when they come in and loosen up a little bit,” Daggett says. “The first ones might be what Grandma likes, you know, everyone looking at the camera, and have those smiles on their faces, but once everybody loosens up and starts looking at each other and starts laughing at something someone did or said, those really capture what family is like and who they are in a picture.”
• Pick clothes that show off faces, not trends. Steven Hertzog, who owns Creative Road Studio with his wife Ann, and recommends black, blue or white colors close to subjects’ faces for the best contrast. “In terms of dressing up, it’s what your family wants to do – do you want it casual or something that’s more formal?” Hertzog says. “You should always try to dress up in similar clothing, keep it simple, so the focus is on your personalities, on your faces and not so much on what you’re wearing.”
• Focus on the photo, not what your kid is doing. The worst photos are the ones where the adults look goofy rather than letting the children be goofy, says Hertzog. “Whoever is doing your photographs, whether it’s a professional or a neighbor, let them get the attention of the children,” he says. “When you have a group picture like this, it really does look silly if the adult has their head down or their eyes closed. It can be cute if the kid is looking off-camera or has a silly grin on their face. When you’re shooting four, six, 10 people, it’s hard to get everybody looking great, but if the adults looks silly, it’s going to be a bad photograph, you’re not going to be happy with it. But if the kid look silly, it’s always, that was Billy on Christmas 2009.”
• Don’t skimp on the number of photos. If you are going to do it yourself, take the time to shoot dozens of photos. “Take a lot of pictures,” Hertzog says, “so you have some things to chose from.”
• And shoot them from different angles. “Take it from a variety of angles and that way you can get some different spots,” Daggett says. “Sometimes the more you move around, the kids aren’t as nervous as looking at this creepy face with a camera, you’re moving around a little bit, singing a Christmas song and they relax a little bit.”
• Consider a professional. Hertzog says that though it might be more expensive than asking a friend to take the photo, it can be worth it for the chance to create a truly treasured picture. Plus, it’ll help alleviate holiday stress in other ways, he says. “If you really want to do a great job, hire somebody,” Hertzog says. “They know how to pose and it gets the job done quicker, so you’re not procrastinating, so you can get on to other things like shopping, decorating.” And if you plan to use a professional, start making arrangements in August or September – don’t wait until the tree is up.
• Redefine perfect – your family is your family. This is the reason why Martin’s tantrum holiday card was such a hit: Nobody wants to see the Cleavers on a Christmas card if that’s not who that family is the rest of the time. “Some of their best expressions are done when they’re just being themselves and actual moments. Those happen to be some of my favorite family portraits – just them interacting together,” Daggett says. “You can get something really special when they’re not expecting it.”

Which is exactly why Martin didn’t exactly stress out about her family holiday shots this year, despite the fact that she had a 9-day-old infant to wrangle along with a 5-year-old, 3-year-old and a husband who hates to be photographed. The Cleavers they aren’t, and that’s just fine with her – the last things she wants is church directory-type perfection.

“I don’t really love those posed pictures,” Martin says. “I mean, sometimes I think when you can capture that one picture that you don’t really expect, that is the one that you end up loving forever.”