Christmas 2007 - Part Two

Who’s bright idea was it to try and get a family portrait on Christmas? Oh yeah. It was mine! Last week, I text messaged everyone and tell them to “dress up” because I’m going to try for a family photo. We hadn’t had one of those since my nephew was a baby. He’s 12 now. We have kids that weren’t even born then. Yeah, it was time. Anyway... “dress up”... So I’m thinking dress clothes, coordinated, blah, blah, blah. One family coordinated and wore something other than jeans. Not that jeans are bad, mind you (sans holes ... LOL). I do have to say that my sister has been through the “portrait gauntlet” with me many, many times so she knows how to dress appropriately for a good family portrait. So in defense of the others, I give leeway. LOL Even my Dad did his rendition of “dressing up”. Polo shirt, dress pants, slippers.

There were only a couple of “mishaps”... if you wanna call them that. First, my mother refused to take off her wet shoes when she first arrived. After stepping in a water puddle, I said “Could ya please take your shoes off so you’re not tracking water all over?” Apparently, that’s fixin’s for skirmish. She started arguing with me about how she wasn’t taking her shoes off, why do I have to ask like that, and how I NEVER take my shoes off at their house. That btw, is exaggerated. I take my shoes off 98% of the time, immediately when I walk in the door. She must be confusing me with one of her OTHER children. Had it not been for my sister, I would’ve blown a fuse. Instead I walked around the hardwood floors where my mother had been and wiped up water puddles while she stood there watching me.

The second thing that happened was at dinner time. I opened the deviled eggs my SIL brought and they were all smashed to one side of the dish. LOL I said: “Uhhhh... “ and showed my SIL. This is where we all found out that my 8yr old niece had grabbed the bag the food was in and tipped everything on it’s side. I left the eggs sitting on the counter. Wouldn’t ya know my family ate them anyway! LOL I think it was my sister that said: “We’re pigs. We don’t care what it looks like. It all goes down the same.” ROFL My guess is that they were pretty good because there were only 2 left when I and my brother's fiance cleaned up after the meal.

Aside from that, Christmas turned out really well. It’s probably one of the better Christmas’s I’ve had in a long, long time. There was a lot of good food. Everyone was sitting at the same table, eating, drinking, laughing, and having a good time. I had everyone open their gifts, one person at a time, so we all could see what they got, rather than it being a free-for-all. It’s so much fun seeing the looks on faces.

My sister got a video recorder for Christmas so she was going around taping everyone and everything. Nice. I’m captured for eternity now. I guess it’s payback for all these years I’ve stuck my camera in everyone’s faces. LOL

Which reminds me: Back to the family photo. After presents were opened, my parents were heading for the door (I don't think Dad wasn't feeling too good.) so I scrambled to make room on my CF card in order to get the BIG PIC. Ever try to get 16 people coordinated and looking at the camera at the same time (and looking good to boot)? No easy task, let me assure you. Plus they're all in a big hurry thinking all you need to do is press the button. Wrong. Not if you want something good. Surprisingly, not one person told me "Could you hurry it up?" Yeah, I've heard that before. Plus... I had to make a spot for me in that group of people! LOL It's not professional quality, but it's a good snapshot.

By 8pm, everyone was gone. The house was quiet, and I was ready for bed. In addition to holiday text messages from friends, I got a lot of great photographs.

Pics to follow.