You did good on your comp, Jo, you just need to work on your lighting and focusing. I agree, people shots are hard; takes a while to get the hang of them. Like Penny said, though, you've got memories in these shots; that's a plus in my book.

I know Penny, and I do have another flash attachment that gives better light. I have to learn to use it more. The pictures that I took Christmas eve are a bit better, but somewhat shaky. I did try some portraits of my niece that I may show tomorrow.

Jo,one of the things you can try is to concentrate on the composition of the shot and then try to isolate the subject from the background. This focuses the viewers attention on the person who is the subject of the photo. I frequently do this by shooting in aperture priority mode and using a very narrow DOF. This puts my subject in sharp focus and hopefully blurs all the distracting stuff in the background (like the furniture, the lamps, the other people, and so on). I usually set my camera so that there is only one single focus point active and I aim that right between the eye of the person who is the main subject of the photo. In any portrait, the eyes are always what you want to see in sharpest focus... And as Penny said above, try getting closer and filling more of the frame with the person who is the subject. You don't always have to be physically closer; if your camera has a zoom lens, try zooming in a bit more than you usually do...and, using a longer focal length lens (eg. more telephoto) will make your DOF more pronounced and isolate your sharp subject from the blurred background much better. ALso, pay attention to the detail in the composition of the photo - try not to include things like the back of someone's head, extra arms and legs from people whose bodies aren't in the shot, and try not to cut off the hands, feet and the tops of people's heads who are supposed to be in the shot. One thing that I try to do when taking 'party shots' like you have in this post, is to zero in on the interesting details and make the photo about those details, as opposed to trying to take in the entire scene with a wide angle view...as an example of this, look at the first photo in this story and imagine what the photo would have been like if it had only included the gift in the boy's hands and the expression on his face - THAT is the photo, the people all around him are just distracting details...you do this VERY well when you take photos in your classroom, so with a little bit of practice, you should be able to do it anywhere....

Your family is beautiful, and the advice they have given you will help me also. Our dinner is tomorrow so between cooking & cleaning, hopefully I will get the chance to try some of these techniques. Wonderful memories!