Christmas Pictures...Grrrr...

So, I am trying really hard to make sure that this is a wonderful holiday season for Sunda and the rest of us. I am not a naturally good "holiday planner." However, I also tend to make huge last-minute demands of myself to make sure that it comes off nicely. In the process of me running around on Christmas Eve Day baking 12 dozen cookies and making centerpieces, my husband tends to suffer. I have vowed that Sunda won't have to go through the pain of a stressful holiday because of my disorganization. So, I've started early. Making my lists and checking them twice. Like I said...trying really hard.

One of the most important parts of this whole process is, of course, the age old struggle of getting a good picture to send out on a Christmas card (preferably before Christmas). I remember when I was young that the first Christmas card my mom opened (usually in the few days after Thanksgiving) was the one that reminded her that we needed to get on the ball and get some pictures taken so that we could send out our own card. There would then be the scramble to find coordinating clothes and get all four of us kids smiling long enough to snap a shot deemed worthy of hanging on the refridgerators of our families and friends. By the time I was in highschool, my mom had tired of the process so much that we stopped going to the professionals and started using whatever decent photo of the four of us that had been taken in the course of that year. Little did I realize what I was in for. And I've only got one!

So, this morning was spent trying to figure out a picture for a Christmas card. I had this cute idea that involved bundling up and going outside, taking a picture that implied that we were "waiting for snow." But, the rainy, dreary day didn't really cooperate with me. So, changing lanes completely, this is what we came up with:





Cute, right?

Riiiiggggght.

The problem is this: I hate posed photographs. Something about them just doesn't capture the essence of me or my family. Something about it says, "Haha...we have it together and got our our picture earlier than you. Aren't we cute?" I know, I know. I'm being ridiculous. I just wish that I could make a Christmas card of some of these pictures instead:







A little more true to life, I think.

All I know for sure right now is that none of these pictures are what you will see on your Christmas card from us. I just need a compromise...