We parents all know the drill. Sometime in November, we find the perfect matching or coordinating outfits (or -- depending on your level of perfectionism -- the perfect outfit that is currently not in the dirty laundry) for our little ones, and then we proceed to act like complete idiots. And by
we, I of course mean
the fathers of the family. At least that's the drill in this family; I am the picture-taker and my husband is the smile-maker. However, I had only had to acquire "the perfect holiday picture" with one toddler before the one below. I realized I would have my work cut out for me with a three and a half-year-old and an eight month-old, but
I had no idea. Most of the pics of Pumpkin had his ubiquitous drool dripping down his chin. And Peanut had no problem showing his boredom at the entire process after just a few shots. After this attempt, we did seek professional [photography] help. But I'm sure my husband would have agreed to professional help of the other persuasion if he heard me utter, "Just one more shot, Honey" while he continued his best monkey impression for shot #82.
Below is the cream of the crop from 2006. And frankly, after looking through all of the "rejects,"
I had no idea how increasingly difficult it would become to get good shots when they became their current ages of two and a half and five and a half. Even the ones we vetoed back in the below shoot look fairly decent next to the ridiculous faces Peanut has now decided are more fun, and the drool of Pumpkin's yesteryear has now been replaced by a constant runny nose (which is even less forgivable when captured on film). But thank heaven for matching sweaters and hats. Those outfits really do make all of the frustration of getting a semi-respectable picture worth the hassle.
Did you get a Christmas picture of your family or children this year? I'd love to hear about it. And by the way, those of you with more than two children who send a Christmas photo where all children are looking in the same direction immediately get my vote for sainthood.
6 comments:
Hmmm, my whole comment just magically disappeared, displaying a "blogger error" box. I'll try again---Such a sweet picture, and a great description of the whole process. Very funny to those of us who did not have to actually try to take the "perfect" picture! :)
Yeah, they get my vote, too. We had our Christmas family photos taken last week and out of about 250 photos, there were only about 4 or 5 that were good enough to make copies of! :) Anyway, I'd love to send you a card with our photo. Will you email me your address? Thanks! :)
Oh so sweet.....
Thank you,
Love,
Kathy
Send me your address and I'll mail you one of mine (assuming I get around to actually addressing envelopes this year!). You will see it is three big individual shots. I put one small one of all three and no, they were not all looking at the camera. I have low standards - I only need them to look mildly pleasant to make me happy.
Last year we didn't even take a holiday photo. We used a family picture from one of our vacations. It took the pressure off around the holidays, and nobody cares if your kids are all dirty and have ragged clothes on--you were on vacation afterall!
This year we haven't taken a holiday photo either. I guess I could use another vacation photo, but I still haven't put anything together yet.
But...I still have until Epiphany to get cards out and still call them Christmas cards, right?
Wow, I guess my standards have changed quite a bit from a couple of years ago when I'd still send out a family holiday photo plus a full color newsletter (with a lot more pictures included) to nearly 200 people.
I think it's adorable! But, yes- I can completely relate. Try getting 4 kids to all look decent... much less land in the same frame!! :)
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