Why are good Christmas Candids so hard to Capture?

I am embarrassed to say that I pressed the shutter button nearly 200 times on Christmas day.  But I had to delete most of them.  No one requested that I delete any.  That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that many were just plain bad.  After deleting duplicates, I am now down to 60 or so that I feel I can share with my family.

It’s a bit frustrating to have so many failed images.  But as I write this, I’ve decided to give myself some slack because I don’t think getting good candids is an easy proposition.  Unlike my favorite genre, landscapes, each expression or action that would make a good candid capture is often so fleeting. A facial expression can change in a second!  

One of many failures.  I got half of it right (not considering the background)

Another thing is that the chances of a good result greatly decrease if there is more than one person in the photo.  The more people in the photo, the more likely there will be one yawning or blinking or putting a Christmas cookie in his or her mouth.  Also, the more people in the photo, the more likely one will be out of focus due to movement or being out of the depth of field.  

Another one of many failure, now deleted from my library

To keep my ISO as low as possible, each photo I took this year with the Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 lens was shot wide open.  I also used some fill flash. The next time, I think I’ll stop down one stop, to F4 and see what happens.  I’d like to come up with a default F-stop that would work for me, in most cases.  It’s been suggested that F5.6 might be a good choice, too.  (This is based on my m43 system with its 2x crop factor.)

This is what I am currently thinking might work for my taste:  Use F2.8 for one person. Use F4 for two people if they are more or less side by side. Use F5.6 for three or more people.... Yes, that will be my strategy next time!

All this being said, here are a few snapshots I like:

I don't mind the grandfather being out of the depth of field here.  At least he is smiling.
Also, it draws attention to the granddaughter