coming soon: aunt charlotte's hot chocolate bar

I'm gearing up for my winter photo shoot for the etsy shop.

That's really just a fancy way of saying that I'm going to be seeing many of my nieces and nephews in a few weeks, and I'm going to bribe them to wear my hats and stuff while I shoot pictures of them.

Taking photos for the etsy shop is one of the banes of my existence.  (That and coming up with tags for my items.  Who's with me on this one?)  I'm not a confident photographer, and yet, I've seen firsthand that the better the picture, the more sales I get.  I've toyed with the idea of getting an arrangement with a professional photographer where he/she takes photos of my items and then I let him/her keep samples of whatever they want, and I imagine that at some point I will at least try that out.  It hasn't been my biggest priority however, and so it hasn't risen to the top of my "get this done" pile yet. 

However, last summer I tried something new.  I took a bunch of hats to our annual family reunion, and had a little photo shoot with my family members there on the mountain.  I was pleased with the results, very pleased, to be honest.

The kids enjoyed putting on the hats and posing for me, and I rewarded them with bubble wands, further cementing my "favorite-or-at-least-one-of-the-favorites" aunt status. 

So, for Christmas this year, I'm hoping to do more of the same.  Hopefully, I'll be able to convince some of my siblings and their spouses to get in on the action as well this year, since I have more grown-up accessories this time around, and I think my shop is getting a little heavy with Charlotte and Eric photos.

As for my payment/bribe/reward this time?  I think bubble wands might be a little less appreciated in December (and where would I buy them anyway?), so I'm leaning towards setting up a little hot chocolate party--with hot chocolate, whipped creme (that you spray out of the can, of course!), chocolate sprinkles, rainbow sprinkles, chocolate shavings, cinnamon, candy canes (for stirring and then flavoring the chocolate), and perhaps some (but probably not all) of what is suggested here.  Thinking back to my childhood, I'm just sure that little Charlotte would have loved to participate in something like that.  (Heck, I'm pretty sure that big Charlotte is going to love it as well!)

So, we'll see how that all comes out I guess.  At the very least, I think it will make a good memory for a group of people that I love, and whether I get some good pictures or not, a good memory is never something to take for granted, right?

Right.