“Twas the night before Christmas…” You know how A Visit from St. Nicholas goes “…all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”

A tale set on a calm and bright night, on the eve of what is to come a jolly and merry morning. There’s anticipation in the house, with both chaotic enthusiasm and quiet calm snuggling up to everyone.

“The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.”

Christmas morning opens to a shrieks of joy and delight, of thunderous little footsteps breaking the dawn silence as children (adults too maybe?) scramble to see what’s under the Christmas tree.

It’s a wonderful moment, shared between loved ones. It’s an enchanting experience that’s meant be remembered. Have a look at our ideas and notes below on how to make magical Christmas morning memories!

1. Get Set

Have a fully charged battery and a spacious memory card so that you’re good to go in an instant. Remember, the kids are up waaay too early on Christmas morning.

2. Mental Mapping Morning Traffic

You know the drill, the layout and the people in the house. Run through scenarios in your head on how’s it going to go down tomorrow and what you want to do. Know where everything is and how you plan to navigate through. Chance favors the prepared mind.

3. Positioning

Know where to be with your camera beforehand. You want to be able to get their expressions and capture their faces when they finally see the presents, and not be behind them instead.

4. Build The Suspense

One thing you could try is to make them aware of where the gifts will be and what time they ought to be bursting out from their rooms. This means you can plan ahead as well as get the hype started in them. Some of the best photos are from their uncontainable excitement and they don’t even have to pose or face the camera. Play with different angles.

5. Tell A Story

The Christmas morning memories start well before the sugar plums dancing. Take photos of the events leading up to it, especially if the kids are past the “Santa” age. Include the covert operation when the adults are sneaking in the presents in the middle of the night. Document the timeline, through the reveal, the unwrapping, the aftermath and the breakfast afterwards from the living room to the kitchen.

6. Get Details

In all the hype, you’ll be caught up in capturing the action on hand, but remember to take the details into account. Things like the decor, the look and feel of the room, the presents, the town wrapping paper, the running down the stairs, the bed hair or even the shoved aside furnitures. These are all complementary shots that add so much value to the moment, so make sure you get plenty of it as well. See point 8.

7. Check The Specs

You’ll want good clear and crisp photos and everyone’s going to be on ultra mode on Christmas Morning, so keep your shutter speed to around 1/125. And while you’re at it, obviously check your ISO and aperture.

8. Aftermath

Get some before and after shots of the room, the Christmas tree and the presents. It’d be pretty cool to see the progression from a picture perfect, well set up Christmas decorated living room to a chaotic scene of torn wrapping paper, presents, toys, cards and more. In fact, the messier the better.

9. Get In On The Action

Feel free to pass the camera around for everyone to take a picture. This gives you the chance to be included in the photographs (don’t be shy, you’ll appreciate it in years to come) and have different photography styles for a more diverse Photobook. Also, see point 10.

10. Put The Camera Down

While capturing the moment is important, being involved comes first. Take the time to spend with family, living the experience together with them. It’s not enough to be there, you have to BE THERE as well. So pass the camera over to someone else, or only use it for the must-have photos, and make the moment matter.

Use a beautifully designed Photobook to present these special moments, with plenty of space for photos, text and themed elements for you to play around. Better yet, our Christmas Readybooks are made to easily tell a story if you want to.

Click Here and we’ll get you started.

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