Christmas Card Confessions

Oh. My. Word. Who knew that trying to compose a Christmas card could age a person 10 years? But I can assure you the bag under my right eye is significantly bigger than it was when all this started 2 weeks ago.

In years past, I just took Trace to Master Portraits, had them snap a sweet pic, make up a card, write them a check, and be done.

Now, with 2, it was near impossible to get one on my own and I just refused to pay someone else to do it. Why... I don't know. Hindsight, it would have been worth every penny.

We have made SEVERAL attempts at capturing the perfect Christmas picture with both of them smiling, most of them ending with me sweating profusely and yelling at someone.

Merry Christmas.

First we went to Sisty's for a "family" picture for her card...
What's up with my bus hair? And the reflection in the windows made our eyes look weird. Those were definitely out!

So we tried again at my house. We managed to squeak out one for Grandaddy and Sisty's card, after I assured her that Jimmy and I were in NO way offended to be left out of the picture. Six people (two of them being under 5) are just too many people to get to look decently at the camera at the same time. Here's hers...
So we thought we'd attempt our family of four. See his face? That was one of the decent ones.
I bought these adorable pj's from Gymboree, knowing Trace was really too big already to be "matching" his sister, but I did it anyway.

My attempts at getting them both in the same picture with matching pajamas. This one nearly sent me over the edge... and our tree crashing to the floor.Hummm made the short list, but it wasn't great of Trace and you couldn't see all of Keatyn's face. Back to the drawing board. Tick, tock, tick, tock.
After church on Sunday, I convinced Jimmy to help me ONE MORE TIME and decided to forgo the traditional Christmas tree pose in hopes of something more entertaining for the kids. We pulled out Trace's John Deere Gator and threw Keatyn in the back. (In the very dirt filled back, I might add.) There were a few possibilities, but after that attempt I made it my New Year's resolution to learn how to splice two pictures together to make one because neither were ever looking and/or smiling in the same shot. Anyone know how to do that??? Seriously, you would make a fortune! Not to mention, have saved me countless gray hairs.

You can see how she felt about her first John Deere ride.
Close, but Trace looks kinda miserable.
Cute smiles. But neither looking at the camera. Sigh.
So I decided to let it go.

That lasted for about 15 minutes.

Jimmy at this point had started the whole, "Why do we need Christmas cards anyway? This is a silly tradition that completely amps up your OCD and makes you crazy." And he's completely right. But you have to understand, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Christmas cards. I get giddy opening the mailbox every afternoon during December waiting to see what precious families and faces will be there. I tape them all up on my pantry door and have been known to leave them there til June.

(Yet ironically, my biggest pet peeve in the world is outdoor Christmas lights still up in July.)

So, I had decided that I would give it till Saturday and if still no decent picture had been captured then I would "buy" them from Emily who took our family pictures back in November. There is one with Trace and Keatyn on the fence that would have been adorable. And probably $200 for 100. Ouch! I'm much more the, Walgreens, $.50 average-a-card type of Christmas card sender.

Trace had his Christmas show at school tonight and I made it my mission to try and get a decent picture of the two of them while he was dressed in his wiseman outfit. The build-up to this picture is rather a let down, because it isn't gonna win me any Annie Lebowitz award or anything, but it's do-able. You can see both of their faces. They are both looking at the camera. And they both have somewhat of a smile on their face.
Bingo. Done. Feliz Navidad...

Walgreens, $.47 a card (with a coupon code :) and I can pick them up tomorrow. I just went downstairs and proudly checked "Christmas cards" off my dry erase to do list!!!

As I was praying before bed (and still obviously thinking about my Christmas cards) I realized I had it all wrong. My first words to God were...

"Thank you for giving me these TWO precious babies this year to put on a Christmas card. Thank you for blessing me with enough special people in my life to have to order 5 sets of 20. And thank you that the $47 I just spent on them, will not mean that I can't pay my mortgage or have to feed my family Ramen noodles for the next week."

It put everything in perspective. At that moment, my rantings about getting a picture for my card seemed so incredibly silly. Because everything about that card is what is SO important to me and what I have to be most thankful for this holiday season. Sometimes it just takes something silly like that to make you realize it.

I am truly blessed with all that I will ever need in this life (whether they are smiling at the camera or not! :)