Puppy thought it meant a long romp on the beach. Um, perhaps that should have been my objective. But no. I decided it was time to take the annual Christmas photo.
Before you roll your eyes at me, let me say that I really do enjoy receiving everyone's photos each year, and seeing how the kids have grown and changed, and hearing all the news. I LOVE that part of Christmas - catching up with friends from all across the country whom we don't get to see every year or nearly enough in general. But I tend to stress out a bit about choosing a photo of my own to send out to everyone.
Now, I know some people scroll through and pick good shots from throughout their "normal" year. As in, NOT a posed picture specific for the holidays. And then there are others who go to great lengths with matching holiday garb...
I'm somewhere in the middle. When the boys were little I used to put them in matching - or at least complimentary - outfits. Surly teens don't fall for that kind of thing. I'm lucky I got them into button down shirts on a non-grandparent holiday.
Puppy, however, didn't understand the point of being ON THE BEACH and not chasing seagulls. Why were we sitting in the dunes instead of splashing in the waves? WHAT WAS THE POINT???
I thought she would be my biggest problem when I scrolled through the hundred plus shots I snapped off on the rapid-fire surly teenager setting that my camera is luckily equipped with. Umm, no again. Puppy was a trooper - looking cute and cuter in each shot. Seriously, tongue in, tongue out, winking her eye at the camera. Too cute for words. For the most part, she was the perfect two year old.
It was the kids. Who are much more than two. And who have been doing this for how many years now? Making faces, looking away, not smiling, closing their eyes... argh!
How about you? Do you "torture" your children like this? Or send photo cards? Do you like receiving them? What's your family tradition? Tell us - because I may need to come up with something new for next year!
How funny, Katie! Puppy was the one to cooperate. Yes, we torture our boys every year with a photo card picture. We're lucky if we get a good one, and it usually requires some Photoshopping.
ReplyDeleteMy mother-in-law just suggested photoshop to me when I told her this story. SOmehow that never occurred to me ;-)
DeleteI always like to include some photos in Christmas cards. I have relatives that send posed shots, but hey, like you said, we get to see how everyone's changed. When they were little, we exchanged Santa photos with the rellies. A lot of people use Facebook, but that limits who can see them.
ReplyDeletePerhaps next year, do a collage of photos and print that out as one photo? My daughter did that recently, and it worked out well.