I thought we had escaped it. I was wrong. Sadly, I was so wrong. Tracy’s side of the family was in town the first week of December and we did an early Christmas with their kids and Frank and Anne Marie. So we were semi-dressed in semi-Christmas garb. Or should I say holiday garb? Can we still say Christmas? Is it legal. Oh well I’ll risk it.
Anywho, we were kinda dressed up and the idea of taking a picture for a family Christmas card was floated, much like a stale air-biscuit in church. You can look it up in the urban dictionary here: He who smelt it…
Then she got the great idea that instead of standing in front of the tree we should be lying down in front of it. It was, she claims, the only way Anne Marie could participate. You know because there is no way I could hold her up for the 3.7 milli-seconds it takes for a camera shutter to groan it’s way to completion. I knew the real deal. She doesn’t like the way either of us currently look in pictures or real life.
To be clear, she looks great. Even though I have dropped 22lbs I still have about 40 to go, so the prone in front the tree position was probably to keep my gut out of the yule tide shot.
We were off to a bad start and it got worse. Since my little sister, aka the warden, lives in Jersey we were devoid of proper organization. The following pictures detail some of the chaos.
At first the kids wouldn’t cooperate. Thank God. I thought once AM started to melt down we might be out of the whole deal. But alas, she rallied.
Then Frank started to act up. Was this the breaking point? Nope, as hard as he tried, bless his little uncooperative heart, it just wasn’t enough.
Then Mommy disappeared. It seems she was not adorned with the proper beautification products. I mean how long does she think an overweight 45 year old, a 3 year old, and a 8 month old can stay like this?
That’s when despair set in. It was inevitable. Sadly I cracked first, then Anne Marie, then Frank. Although I’m suspicious that Frank’s despair was at me and Anne Marie, not at the one person responsible for all this.
Here is what true exasperation looks like.
Three tired mice
Trust me this was not staged. Unbeknownst to me, my sister-in-law Rachel just kept taking pictures throughout the whole ordeal. She ended up with almost 135 photos.
Eventually we all got it together, as much as that group could and managed a servicable Christmas card picture.
SPOLIER ALERT> If you’re on our mailing list avert your eyes in
3…
2…..
1….
All we got
Of the 135 shots Rachel took, this was the only serviceable one. And yeah, Frank appears to be asking God why he is being punished with membership in this family.
Merry Christmas from Frank’s Place!
SHES 2012
Frank's Place 
I’m with ya. I had 2 adults, 2 teenagers and 1 7 yr old princess. Pretty sure I was gonna have my old melt down before it was over.
I was as close to my own meltdown as I’ve been. Can’t imagine what it will be like when AM can walk.
OMG – that was classic! Loved the one of the 3 of you with you heads down…that is too funny!
And see….you all make fun of me for my organizational skills, until I’m not there to take control!!!
Merry Christmas #7 – wish we could spend Christmas together this year!
Love, #8
Merry Christmas #8. See you this summer hopefully. This number thing will make life much easier as we all get early onset.
Too cute!
Thanks Elvira
Adorable! It’s hard enough trying to get just two kids to both pose at the same time without worrying about adults messing up the photo. Kathy would have had you all seated in baskets!
Thanks Eileen. Yeah no doubt Kathy would have brought a little more order to the process.
You are a beautiful family!
I second that reply … Beautiful!
Thanks Susan
Thanks Amparo – appreciate it.
H.i.l.a.r.i.o.u.s. – love the downcast pic! The one that comes in the mail will have so much more meaning now that you’ve shared the “sausage-making” shots. We can totally relate. Had to resort to bribery this year and the reward is front and center! Here’s hoping you get yours BEFORE Christmas!
Thanks Laurie. Surprisingly this was one of the few photos we didn’t have to bribe Frank for.
This is lovely – thank you for sharing, merriest of Christmas to you all!
Thanks Mari and Merry Christmas to you as well.
Merçi pour ces magnifiques photos.chérissez vos enfants en ce moment si dure,serrez les forts dans vos bras ,dites leurs tous les jours que vous les aimez .Passez EN FAMILLE un joyeux NOEL JOY DE FRANCE
Merci Joy. Je rase eux chaque fois que je peux. Joyeux Noël à vous!
Classic pal…absolute classic. Especially my man praying at the end…there’s an apple that feel RIGHT to the base of the tree…lol. Love you guys.
Thanks Chris.
No Christmas pajama picture this year?
Oh yeah, we will still do that. This was just for the Christmas card. You’ll be able to see the PJs picture right here.
Oh my God, I couldn’t stop laughing at this. I loved the “exasperation” photo. So cute! The final one was beautiful and well worth the drama!
Merry Christmas and have a happy and healthy New Year!
Thanks Kate. Happy New Year!
So. Freakin’. Funny!! And real. It is so the way it is…..impressed you only had to take 135… 😉
Thanks. I can’t imagine what next year will be like. She’ll hopefully be much more mobile. Should add to the fun.