Before Christmas.
Cue the gasps and disbelief. I actually don't send Christmas cards, I send
Anyway. I digress.
To be honest, the only reason I'm getting them out on time this year is because I now use a website that minimizes all the work for me. I have an address book already on it, and all I have to do is select the picture(s) and design, and they print/address/stamp/send them. It's perfect for this busy mama.
We did this year's holiday photo shoot nearby this year, just out on Camano Island. Big mistake. It was like 16 flippin' degrees out, not even counting wind chill (it's windy here). Next year, I'm doing my photos in August. Ugh. Anyway, this was the best I could do under the circumstances, with fading light and all of us trying to get it over with as quick as possible due to the cold. The only one of all of us isn't my favorite, I didn't even notice until later that the tripod was crooked! Haha... a few are a little blurry too, but I put them in there anyway~
Me + Kid (s)...
Jeff + his girls...
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| What they thought of my photo shoot.
I call these the "Mommy, you suck" / Rudolph the red nosed reindeer pics:
 
You dialing CPS yet??
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Due to my very real concerns of my children turning into popsicles and losing some brain function, we took our photo shoot inside.
(In case you were curious, no, baby avie did not partake in the full festivities. She lounged in the comfort of the warm car until it was time for her photo to be taken, and then only briefly was outside, and was zipped into jeff's coat unless the shutter was released. Clearly, I love her more ;-))
I actually have more I wanted to add (yes really) but my computer is now acting up, and it's late even by my standards (Like past 3:30 AM...yikes)
So, I guess those bootiful photos I was going to grace you with, will have to wait for another day. (I mean, darn. Because there aren't enough here already!)
Hope everyone had a most fabulous time shooting their holiday pictures, and I hope it was warmer than ours! Sending lots of virtual love and hot chocolate your way!!!
5 comments:
Pictures look great! Such pretty girls :) And I just about died laughing at their faces in the cold. I think they're going to call CPS themselves ;-)
So, not that you asked for my opinion, but... my cards are chosen based on how well the background coordinates with the picture I want to use. If it says Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays and this offends someone... well... I am sorry, but I could care less. It is too frickin hard to pick a card as it is, I am not limiting myself to the ones that only say generic holiday messages ;) And I am a white girl from the eastside (of the state... very conservative!) and I would be perfectly happy to be wished a Joyous Kwanzaa, or anything else... because even if I don't celebrate it I would still appreciate that someone was wishing me joy. And while I try to make sure I only say Merry Christmas to those whom I know celebrate it... if I made a mistake... I would sincerely hope people could care more about the overall meaning of the message than the words used. While I can appreciate the need for more generic things in official contexts, such as employers or whatever, I think everyone could use a little more grace when it comes to words from an individual person. But, that is just me :)
-Lisa
Haha yeah they were not too pleased about the frigid temps!
The white chick on the eastside comment more meant that people in general would be more suprised to be wished anything other than merry Christmas...no one ever says joyous Kwanzaa or happy Hanukkah to me. I have no problem with receiving Merry Christmas cards myself, or any other faith. It's just my personal preference to keep things all-inclusive because, well, I like it that way. I like to give a little nod so to speak to the other faiths/nonbelievers. And I guess I'm lucky because on the website I chose they have like a million freaking options for cards, I put in "holiday cards" and 3+ pictures and there were over 150 options, I had a hard time choosing...and need up going with one at doesn't really match but I thought was kind of funny. But like I said, it really isn't a big deal, it's just my opinion as someone who was raised nonchristian and can see the point of people who think its a little narrow-minded. Would I ever throw a stink over that? Absolutely not. But do I think it shows good grace to acknowledge all faiths equally? Yeah, I think that sounds pretty nice :-)
That being said...my "holiday card" doesn't even say anything about the holidays on it !
Yeah, I should really branch out from Costco, especially since options are so limited that sometimes I get several cards with the same background from different people! (Of course in the end I don't really care about same-background cards... obviously...) but I can't get over the wanting to physically see the card in my hand before I pay for it (so that I could make them do it over if was screwed up... however... I have never once done this... even last year when they printed my pics too dark!).
And I possibly should have clarified... that nothing you said bothered me and I think it's great to try to keep things equal to everyone.
However, my real reaction was to a rather angry / mean status update (of a relative, figures) about Christmas cards with an agenda, or something like that. I did send them a message and told them to please feel free to throw mine out because no offense was meant, and they apologized and said mine didn't offend them (although it clearly met offense criteria with its specific Christmas reference , so I suspect they maybe had their own thing they were upset about that didn't have as much to do with cards?) So anyway I had read that shortly before your post but I didn't feel like I could really go off on FB or my blog or anywhere without causing further drama so apparently I picked your comments instead :)
Interestingly, in all the FB meme sharing regarding the holiday greeting used, I hear only from those who are not religious (any religion) and Christians. I would be interested to hear more from someone who is Jewish or truly celebrates another holiday feels about using "happy holidays" vs "merry christmas" or "happy Hanukkah" etc, since theoretically it would apply to anyone, not just those celebrating christmas. I suppose since I haven't heard, that goes to show the lack of diversity in my FB friends...
Anyway, sorry for using your comments as my own personal blog space. Perhaps I should figure out a way to formulate a post... if i could figure out a way to do it that would not incite drama.
-Lisa
No worries, debates are welcome on my blog! And I thought your Christmas card was lovely, it has pride of place on my windowsill :-) I see noroblem with sending out a card that represents your faith. I think your relative is a little nutso probably....
In truth, it's not even the cards that bother me- I mean I would send out a Christmas card. It's the attitude of some people that act offended when their employer, etc makes them say "happy holidays" instead of merry Christmas. I do think its a little overboard- cant people just chill out?- but at the same time, there ARE people out there who think that the other holidays don't matter, and that people who don't believe or believe something else are "misguided" and perhaps their wishes of a merry Christmas instead of a happy holiday will bring them back around from the dark, faithless side- you know, keeping the Christ in Christmas. I don't have a lot of Jewish friends, so I don't see a lot of their thoughts on this on FB. I mean, who cares if your boss wants you to say happy holidays instead of whatever else in order to be more inclusive? I dunno...
Yeah I know what you mean about viewing the cards first. It makes me a little nervous! I notice a diffence into colors of those pictures just between my iPad and computer so I'm crossing my fingers they turn out in print (looks a little dark on my iPad). They do check them and send you a message if colors/contrast/exposure might need adjustment so I'm hoping they'll come out ok. If not...oh we'll, at least I didn't have to address and stamp a bunch of cards.
I hope you do post a blog. I like your "controversial" posts!
Aannnd where is Sabrina? I think she has an opinion on these things! :-)
Ugh, typos. Sorry iPhone typing/autocorrect!!
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