HOLSTEIN, Iowa | Christina Kjar remembers her mother's Christmas cards. They didn't involve a family photo.
"Mom would buy standard Christmas cards in packs of 25," says Kjar. "She'd write a personal note on each one of them and maybe put a wallet photo of me inside."
How ironic that Kjar now spends much of her fall, and some of her summer, creating Christmas cards for clients of her Christina Kjar Photography in downtown Holstein.
Through the years, the photographer has had a hand -- more specifically an eye -- in shaping Christmas greetings for hundreds of folks around Ida County and beyond.
"I do many family portraits throughout the summer and into the fall and families will order those for their Christmas cards," she says. "Or, I'll have sessions with their children and they'll use those for Christmas."
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The activity picks up in November as Kjar, who bought and renovated a studio site this year, builds upon a holiday theme at the studio, just as she has done the past 13 years.
"The November sessions are geared toward the holiday time," she says. "We'll do kids and families and they'll order prints. They'll choose a picture and I'll design it and deliver it to them."
A December promotion follows, giving "last-minute" planners a chance to send an incredibly recent photo Christmas card. This year, weather permitting, Kjar planned to create a Christmas tree scene on green space next to her new studio.
"There will be a tree, plaid blankets and families may be dressed with mittens and hats," she says. "I might be wearing mittens and hats, too, if it's that cold. We'll be fine as long as it's not blowing snow."
Light snow, the photographer welcomes, as long as it doesn't damage the tools of her trade.
"With the early December promotion, families can see their photos online within a couple of days," Kjar says. "They order and then I can have their cards to them three or four days later. It's a very quick promotion."
The photo shoot in early December takes all of 10 minutes, as opposed to the hour she spends with families for portraits draped in the colors of summer and fall.
"If I think back a few years, not everyone sent photo cards at Christmas," says Kjar, who last year sent a Christmas card featuring her and husband, Eric Hanson, standing in front of their new home in Holstein. "Now, all my young friends send photo cards."
The Christmas season won't slow until after the blessed holiday. Kjar says it's not uncommon for her to shoot a family photo on the morning of Christmas Eve or on the day after Christmas, as those dates are sometimes the only time a large family is together. Those photos can grace Christmas cards the following year.
"I know I've got a photo this year on Dec. 26," she says. "It's a grandparents photo with their grandchildren."
And so, the picture-perfect planning begins for Christmas 2016.
