The best laid plans.....

It begins in August. Where will we go for our Christmas card picture? What color will we wear? Once the color is decided...what specifically will everyone wear? Then, we must schedule, of course, the photo session AND haircuts 2 weeks prior. Then, the shopping of the perfectly coordinated outfits (so that they look natural and not TOO coordinated).

Finally, the day arrives. Without fail, someone will have majorly injured a very visible body part the day before. Or, one year, someone in my family decided to cut her own hair the day OF pictures. In case you haven't guessed, the annual Christmas card photo is easily in the top 3 stressors in my life.

This year was no exception. We did outdoor shots in the late afternoon sun in October. The trees were beautiful. The lighting was beautiful. My children? Goofy smiles. The baby was cranky (because it was late and dinner time and almost bedtime). Katie was flat-out crying. For no reason. Cuz, she's Katie. She cries for no reason. That's how she rolls.

So, without further ado.....here is our Christmas card picture. Taken tonight. In front of my tree. By me. No stress. No preparation. No pricey price tag. No injuries. No self-inflicted haircut. No crying.

Merry Christmas!

(from left, Katie, 6; Nathan, 4; Hannah, 10; Autumn, 1)

Tie shoes

Every day, Katie comes home with a tattered piece of yarn from her napping rug (she's in Kindergarten) tied to her velcro shoes. She's 6 (as of last month) and thinks she must now have shoes that tie. It's all she wants. Every day. Shoes that tie. She can't tie, by the way. She just twists it into a mess. But, that's beside the point.

It made me think about what to get ALL my children for Christmas. And, I thought I'd share my own rule of 3. Every year I get my kids one thing they want, one thing they need, and one thing I want them to have. It's not as hard as you might think to get them to narrow down their wish list to the one item that would make their lives complete. The thing they need is often clothes of some sort. The thing I want them to have is sometimes a book that I loved as a kid. Or a keepsake of some sort. Or anything that I think they would like that might not have occurred to them already.

So, I'll get her tie shoes of course! I'll have to tie them everyday. And, technically it fulfills rule 1 AND 2. But, I suppose now I'll have to buy her a new napping rug.