Getting Carded



My Favorite Card Photo: December 2007



It's the most wonderful time of the year...time to write my Christmas letter.  I'll be the first to admit that I am an absolute nut for the good old fashioned, annual recap Christmas letter paired with a dopey family picture.  I adore everything about them--getting them, sending them--the whole process is a thrill.  In hindsight, our 2005 (the year we were married) Christmas letter was probably my first blog post in disguise.  That was the year I hatched the idea to do a Top 10 list in lieu of a traditional letter.  It was an idea born in laziness (as all of my best ideas are)...why write a whole letter when I can just write 10 little blurbs?  Also that year, I stumbled upon the generic holiday cards that have a little sticker spot to attach a 4x6 photo--another lazy win.  Thus our card tradition was born.

I start writing our letter in January.  I've got post-its & scraps of paper & un-sent email drafts to myself with ideas & phrases that I find amusing (to heck with everyone else, I do this for my own enjoyment).  In November I start gathering all of my tidbits in one place & see if I can patch together 10 interesting things from the past year.  Order 100 prints of a passable picture of the family & it's done.  I've got it down to a science, but this year I'm hitting a bump in the road...the picture.   

I feel like this year's picture is my cotillion.  There are quite a few people on the list that I haven't seen in a long time...there are quite a few people who haven't seen the fruits of my labor.  This picture has to be just right.  A body shot, but not OBVIOUSLY a body shot.  A hot outfit, but not so hot that I look like the woman who forgot that she's a 30-something with two kids, a mini-van & a Costco membership.  Oh, & I guess the other three people in the picture should look ok, too.  It's a tall order.  Dave jokes that we should just send a picture of me & get it over with--we can catch people up on our kids next year.  I laugh, but only because I secretly think it's a swell idea.  I can't focus on sucking in & smiling the right smile to minimize my sagging face skin when I also have to make sure that Lincoln isn't sticking his finger up Coraline's nose (true story). 

I realize that by posting this, I am opening myself up
to being put in one of those email forwards about bad
family photos--please be kind.

I feel a little bad about my narcicism, but not bad enough to try to curb it.  So, until further notice, I will be subjecting my family to all manner of weird photo ideas until we come up with the right one.  My last idea (at left) had me sitting the kids on a dresser like some sort of weird tchotchkes.  There's a story behind the dresser, but it's not good enough to warrant this creepy photo.  Back to the drawing board...or dark room...or perhaps I need the Cave of Wonders & Robin Williams.  *sigh*  Sounds easier than just taking a simple picture.