Tis the Season

Some of you may have already received our X-mas card in the mail. It is a pretty simple gesture...a photo of Diamond D and Lady E, dressed nicely, in front of our modest tree. It's not a professional photo, and it may not be perfect, but it's simplicity belies a substantial effort on our part to create. There is the task of dressing the children in clothes that they may not be so comfortable in; that's not too bad. Getting out the camera and tripod...snapping a photo...pretty easy stuff. But the effort comes in as the children are posed and made to look happy. As soon as D was dressed, and as E was being dressed, he tripped while going up the stairs and gave himself a fat lip and a fowl disposition. It was downhill from there. While D was impossible to make smile, E set to vigorously attacking all things Christmas...the tree, a gift that was to be used as a prop, the ornaments, the tree skirt (or whatever it's called), etc. Here's some out-takes from the shoot.
The first one is not too bad were it not for E ripping into her cousin's gift. And D's smile is a bit distorted from the impact with the step.

The next one speaks for itself and shows further swelling of Desmond's face.

This one's not too bad either, but E's not looking...more swelling...a poor angle too.

All the while we were walking the line between civility and meltdown, and then...
Desmond and Emma both were so drained by this experience that they immediately took naps. Afterwards we were able to snap the photo that was used. Our standards of what was usable and what was not were a bit diminished by our first attempt at documenting the season's joy, but the photo that was ultimately used turned out nice...we think.

Of course the children have to be made to sit on Santa's lap this time of year too. The typical drill for this event involves going to a busy mall, waiting in line as the children's anxiety over sitting on Santa's lap builds to a crescendo, having an "elf" take a photo that will be decent, and then paying an exorbitant sum for the prints. No fun. Well, there's this pizza joint that we frequent that has a good buffet. They send out coupons for get-one-free offers which we use and eat for quite cheap. D loves it there, and E likes to watch all the other people. It's the type of place that it's not uncommon to see youth athletic teams after a game. Anyway, if we are out to eat it's likely there. So for the weeks leading up to X-mas Santa is there taking requests, and we decided to take advantage of the situation. It may not be the most upscale way for the kids to visit Santa and get a quick photo, but parking was much easier. Also, we could sit and eat while D and E watched the other kids sit and talk with Santa. We discussed how the visit works and they got to see the kids having fun and taking their time. No stress. Eventually, in the middle of his cinnamon roll, D decided that he wanted to do the Santa thing, and he did...no biggie.
I must say that D does not seem overly impressed with Santa. Maybe he resents being told that he has to be good in order to get presents. I can't blame him...holding that over a kid's head all year is lame. Maybe D knows his relatives well enough to know that even if he's not "good" per Santa's standards he'll still rake it in on X-mas. In fact he wasn't really paying much attention to him before and after he sat on his lap. Emma on the other hand was enraptured with the jolly old man. She stared and smiled from the time he arrived until we left. Although she may not look it in the photo, she was very excited to have a visit.
And why not have them both in one...

Season's Greetings...