Christmas Wishes...

 

 Okay. This is supposed to be our Christmas card. Except Shutterfly failed to deliver (on time, as promised) so I won't be sending any out until AFTER Christmas. : (

Regardless, I think I have pretty great kids to pose for this photo. And it wasn't even my idea. This year, their father came up with the idea and I was SURE they would revolt. But, they know it is pretty much all I ask of them at Christmastime, so I am still amazed that this one goes down in history as the easiest Christmas card shoot of them all.

Go figure... 

Our holiday table:

Oh, and I know you have all probably heard me bemoan my camera and the lacklustre quality of the photos it produces. Well, this year the handyman gave me such a surprise! We, who normally don't exchange much in the way of presents, actually surprised each other. I made a photo book for him commemorating his Ironman achievement and he gave me this sweet beauty:

So, after many hours trying to figure out how the heck it works, I should be able to shoot some better quality images for this old blog.

Just remember, I'm a slow learner, so don't expect too much too soon!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. 

And for your listening pleasure. This one gives me chills:

Christmas Greetings...

Are you a Christmas card person or not?

Me? I definitely am. In fact, I think it is one of the traditions that I refuse to let go by the wayside in these modern times of e-greetings, Facebook, and general abandonment of mail that you actually post. I have noticed a serious decline in the number of actual cards I have gotten in the mail this year. Now, perhaps nobody likes me, but I think it speaks more to the fact that fewer folks are actually bothering to send any out.

So sad...

(the photo winner)

I do know that taking our annual holiday photo can be stressful, with the boys groaning and scowling at having to go outside/dress up/ smile upon cue. I have taken photos under the tree, by the fire, on our front stoop, but I do seem to be upping the ante and trying to out-do myself each year in getting the perfect pose. Obviously this adds to the boys' irritation, but do I care? In word, no.

You see, I consider these photos my gift to myself. I know my children will be grown and gone someday, and I will no longer spit-shine little (and not so little) faces and photograph them for our holiday cards. I will join the (dwindling) number of people who purchase a boxed set of cards and simply sign their name. This collection of Christmas cards is my photo montage of Christmases past. I can easily see how they have changed each year, and smile at how they cast aside their grumpiness at being photographed and delivered smiles that were worthy of being sent to friends and family. I can laugh at the memories of me yelling at them to stop goofing around, fidgeting, complaining. Because I am honest: I am a bossy photographer. And if you tell me that photographing your kids is all roses and sunshine I will not believe you...especially if two of them are basically teenagers.

After the dust has settled, and the kids have peeled off their holiday finery and have been placated with a few candy canes or two (yes, that still works...), I head off to develop my photos - hoping that they will reflect the fact that these are good children, who eventually come through with a genuine smile for their mother, and who know that cooperating is a gift they can give me that costs nothing.

And it is one that I know will bring tears to my eyes when they have moved on and formed their own families.

...And I dearly hope that they will follow in my footsteps and immortalize their own children's charm in a Christmas card...and send one to me!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

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**If you want to see more great Christmas card ideas, check out Tip Junkie and her holiday card contest finalists.

**To see some of my previous holiday cards go here, and here.

Are you in?

Phew...my annual Christmas card photo is officially over, hurried along by the early snowfall that I desperately wanted to take advantage of for its photographic possibilities. It is not an event I particularly look forward to, however, I so enjoy the end result. I have tortured myself this way for as many years as I can remember, and love looking back on the photos of Christmases past. Many have been taken as the children sat under our Christmas tree, and others in front of the mantel, whenever we had one. For some reason, I have upped the pressure on myself to be creative and photograph them in a different way each year. Perhaps it is the ever-honest voice of my husband's brother that I hear as he proclaims that "...last year's was better" or "...you can never beat the one of the boys on the front step" (when they were five and three years old),

but regardless I plan that photo with the same intensity that the "old man" in A Christmas Story bargained for a deal on a Christmas tree. Who doesn't need a little more holiday pressure??!!

The common theme (besides well wishes to friends and family) has been to show off my children...and I make no apologies for that. They represent our family best; and their father and I have yet to join them in a Christmas card photo - partly because of the logistics behind it, and partly because I want to look at the photo with sheer contentment, instead of picking apart my flaws and second guessing what to wear. I think I am like many women, who shy away from the camera, wrong or right. I also think we are misguided, and may regret our opting out of these pictorial keepsakes.

I have, on one occasion, posed for professional photos with my boys, albeit completely unintentionally. The following photos were taken when my boys were two and one yrs old. Despite our best efforts, my baby would not let me put him down, nor would he relinquish the train the photographer had given him, to coax him from my arms. Try as we did, there was no way he would pose for her, thus she suggested that I be in the photos. Despite my protests (I was not dressed for a photo session), and my shyness in front of the camera, I knew it was a losing battle: either pose, or go home empty-handed (photo-wise, of course...).

Apprehension aside, I laughed my way through the shoot as both boys "kept it real" and alternately toddled away, pulled hair (see below), acted silly or squirmed in my arms. Either way, I ended up with photos that are priceless to me, and instead of scrutinizing myself, I simply saw an adoring mother of two hopelessly cute boys. On this occasion, I was in...!!

Are you?