The Christmas Card Fiasco of 2009

Yeah, I'm one of those people. The ones that do the "Look at us! We're a big happy awesome family" holiday cards. Well...I should say I would like to be one of those people....and then reality hits.

Two years ago, I was settling in to my role as a new stay at home mother, so I nixed the holiday card that year. Last year, I was a crazy pregnant lady, and no matter what angle you shot me from, I still looked like a whale...no sense in scaring the family with that, so the card was axed again.


So, this year, I was bound and determined to get a lovely photo montage of the children playing happily. In my mind, I imagined our friends and loved ones opening their holiday card from us and "oohing" and "ahhing" over my beautiful family. I got the kids dressed in their KU outfits, and decided that our limestone KU Taylor rock would make a pretty sweet backdrop.

I forgot to mention that Sam is crazy about Jayhawks. Like, borderline psycho about them. He points to them no matter where they are, be it a flag adorning someone's driveway, or plastered across the chest of the creepy weirdo at the ghetto Wal-Mart. So, much to my dismay, I couldn't get Sam to stop pointing at the Jayhawk on the rock....scratch that idea.

Yep, Sam, that's a Jayhawk. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

So, then I decided against the themed card, and settled for "cute shots of the kids playing together." Here are some that I captured.

This is what a pretty typical day at our house looks like. Sam bugging Sloane, and Sloane bawling. Happy Holidays!

"Hey Sissy! Mommy got out the camera, so this seems like a great time to kick you in the face, and flash my "I didn't do it" eyes while I give you some sympathy snuggles." HAVE A BLESSED HOLIDAY SEASON, LOVE THE TAYLORS.

"Hey, he started it!"

"Hey Brotherman! What do the five fingers say to the face? SMACK!"

I guess where I'm going with this is....even with the best intentions, for the third year in a row I may end up putting the kibosh on the holiday cards. BUT, if you do get one...just know that it probably took a lot of bribery, threats, and time outs to make that card look nice. Or, I might just go the non-traditional route, and fill our holiday card with pictures of what real life in my house is like....and sign it "Happy Holidays from the Hot Mess Express." Parenting is about lowered expectations, isn't it?