Well, there goes nothing

I wanted to make a Christmas card with my baby playing with Christmas lights. I have everything I need: cool camera, christmas lights, reflective floor, and cute baby.

Here is what I had in mind:

Check out the first baby

I studied my dummy books on photography, feeling dumber by the page. You know that feeling, when you read a paragraph once and go, "say what?"

I did you tube, google, pinterest and picked my photographer friend's brains.

I went into the dark with Christmas lights, tripod, camera, books, and stuffed animals posing as baby. I tried every apperture, shutter speed, iso and other photography jargons of which I already forgot what the heck they are for.

I'm ready.

"Bring the creature!" I yell for husband, downstairs. "And undress him. He should look innocent."

Undressed, the creature is placed on the floor, and at the sight of said Christmas lights, he screams bloody murder. This is probably the most terrifying thing that ever happened to him. We try playing with the lights ourselves, forcing him to touch them, to no avail. He cries harder, tears running down his baby face.

We turn on the lights of the room and turn off the evil Christmas lights. Baby still stares at them, and then at me, hiccuping, with a face expression that says, "what the f was THAT?"

Now, how is it that professional photographers do it? It seems that if that was my career, it would be mostly of outtakes.

Anyone has a simpler, less traumatic idea for a Christmas picture?