Since 2007 my family has been creating goofy and funny Christmas cards every stinkin’ year. It started out with 5 of us: me, my wife, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and mother-in-law. Each year we pick a theme, usually chosen by my mother-in-law, hunt thrift stores for costumes, and set up a photoshoot. And as the family grew we added more people to the pics.
We usually shoot these photos in November in Minnesota and the weather can be anywhere from 30 degrees to 70 degrees, we just never know!
2007: A Hillbilly Christmas
Our experimental Christmas card with me, Amy my wife, Shelly my mother-in-law, Curt brother-in-law, Tracy sister-in-law and Tilly the dog. Most photos are taken in cold cold weather, but this was not. I was the middle of Summer on the 90 plus degree day, I got heat stroke from wearing a cookskin hat. It was rough like the unsanded wood on this random hillbilly cabin in the woods.
2008: World’s Worst Mariachi Band
My wife’s not impressed at all with my choice of dinner music. But who can blame her?
2009: All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!
With matching red smudgy dirty sweaters we set fire to my grill and put some blackout to look like our teeth are missing as we dressed up and took the shot in our dirty backyard!
2010: Hope your Christmas is as Spaced Out as ours!
Us in-laws, me, Josh and Dawn – the aliens in green, are so weird we had to team up to trap the astronauts since they didn’t come in peace. And we actually Curt from a tree in a harness for this shot.
2011: What Christmas? Cool man
2012: Xmas Noir
2012 marked the 1st year we took the family pic with the newest addition to the family, Charli. Me, myself and mother-in-law poked our heads around the corner at the illegal gin joint discovered in the basement. Each year we pick a theme, hunt down costumes and organize a photoshoot. Every year some members fight us on the shoot, but always love the final result!
2013: Grrr! Angry Birds
Will someone please explain this Christmas card and why these birds are so angry? our family keeps growing, this year Tyler was born!
2014: Put that in your Pipe
We didn’t get a chance to meet up every year, our solution… Brady Bunch it and we introduced Evalyn to the family.
2015: RUN!
What do you do when a giant cartoon dinosaur crashes your photoshoot? Run of course, even if he looks friendly. We wanted to celebrate the release of my 2015 kid’s book, Explorasaurus ABCs!
2016: The Creepy Hand of Santa
Simple. Yet effective. Most people even missed the hand completly.
2017: Made Out Like Bandits
Poor Grandma Shelly can’t keep up with the Stripey Shirt Gang! We escaped with bags full of cold hard cash and a few kiddos to boot.
2018: Running of the Bulls
Well, this shot was painful! JK, but some people thought our Photoshop skills were top-notch getting all these bulls and shadows in the pick. This one was taken in November and it was freezing wearing these white short t-shirts.
2019: Act your Age
We got tired of the kids telling us to act our age all the time. So we swapped, they wanted to take book calls and book appointments and make all the rules just for us to break the rules and stay up way too late.
2020: Battle of the Bands!
Not everyone got this one! LOL, We all got individual photos and out together a music poster for Battle of the Bands. Shelly is Ozzy Osbourne (she totally looks like him), me and Amy are parodying ZZ Top, Curt and Dawn are Sonny and Cher, Tracy and Josh are Simon and Garfunkle, and the Kids are the Beach Boys.
2021: I’m a cowboy Baby!
2022: Disco Inferno!
You know what they say about disco. Dis go ‘dere and dis go ‘dere! We looked all over the place for 1970’s outfits for this theme. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to book Studio 54 for the shot.
2023: BM: We Move You
2023 Was a year of moving! Amy and I moved across town, Tracy and Josh and Family moved into their new house, Shelly retired and moved back to her farmhouse and Curt and Dawn stayed put. That’s why it feels like we have our own moving company: Bergsholm Movers.
