the (family) holiday photo

 

 

come christmas i wish i had the perfect family photo of the three of us to make into a holiday card.  but it's not meant to be.  so i resort to one i have taken of kai at some point during the year (there's always one i can use) and make it work.  our families love to receive a photo of him so all is good in the end.

but i am always thinking about that imagined, perfect holiday photo of the three of us. amongst the many photos snapped over the past year there's very few photos of the three of us and not one is holiday card worthy.

you see, when i try to take a family photo it brings out the absolute worst, stressed out part of me.  by the time i am taking the tenth photo (on self-timer) my boys are done.  actually their patience runs out after photo number three has been snapped.  so the photo that i try to capture doesn't happen - smiles are no longer genuine, the boys are grumpy, and i have lost it.  it's always a bad idea. 

one day i am sure stefan will outright refuse to pose for a family photo, he isn't much into forced happiness.  i get it.  and kai, i'm afraid he will likely need years of therapy to undo the harm that i cause whenever i announce that i would like to snap a family photo. 

nothing good ever comes from a forced family photo.  yet i know i will continue to persist, hopeful that this time will be the photo i am after. 

i will learn one day.  but not today.  today i am grateful that i have a family of three that i can pester to indulge my crazy family photo crusade (and learning of the horrific news in connecticut, i am enormously grateful... what heartbreak).