Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Because I'm Selfless That Way

So, my Christmas plans have been a total disaster. The tree sits undecorated in the family room, my tiny trees on the front stoop blew a fuse and now the outlet won’t work, and the white candles in the windows are ancient history. Within 7 minutes of suction cupping (?) them to the windows around the house, they came crashing to the floor. “Bam!” From Molly’s room. “Smash!” from the kitchen. Nine broken bulbs in a row. Not remotely like Kristallnacht, but you get the picture.

Speaking of pictures, I’ve been desperate to take a family Christmas picture. We usually do it over Thanksgiving when my sister can take it (see red plaid family on red couch above). This year we wanted Shadow in the picture, so we had to do it at home.

Determined to check one measly thing off the to-do list, I roped in my 9 year old neighbor. She thought she was on an innocent play date with Molly until I handed her the camera and told her to start shooting. She got some good ones, but kept cutting off Tom’s head. He comes in at a towering 5’8" in shoes, which to a 4th grader must seem gigantic.

Anyway, getting 4 people and a dog to look good at one time proved a challenge, which leads me to today. I had to select which one would be our card photo. The power! The responsibility! There were two in which I looked pretty fabulous, but Tom was headless and the dog looked possessed by demons. The kids? Well this never was about the kids, was it?

We order our cards from Cost.co, where they are inexpensive and I can order a ton. But who wants a ton when you don’t look good? Hence my leeetle moral dilemma. Should I throw the rest of the family under the bus so I could look good? I blame my best friend for all of this. Years ago she told me how irritated she got when her married friends would send photos of just the kids. She wanted to see how her friends looked, too.

Well, I promised her Tom and I would be in the photos from then on. Nothing like giving everyone a yearly documentation of wrinkle encroachment. My friend is married with a child now, and let me tell you if I get a photo of just her daughter in the mail this year, she is cruising for a bruising.

So, I’m curious: WWBD (What Would Blogland Do)? Would you choose the fabulous picture of yourself, or would you sacrifice yourself for the greater good? I mean isn’t Mom the one doing the decorating, cleaning, shopping and wrapping? What about the mailing, schlepping and thank you note-ing? Shouldn’t she be the one who shines in the Christmas card photo?

Being the selfless person I am, I chose one where we only lost the very top of Tom’s hair, the kids looks great, and I look…meh. My nose veers off unbecomingly to the corner of the picture and my face is a fleshy orb. You may be wondering if you’ll see it. Oh yes you will-- early next week.

This blog is no stranger to unflattering pictures of me, and this one isn't terrible, just not my fave. It also has a twist that I hope you’ll see as kitschy and ironic. If not, you’ll just realize, if you haven't already, that we’re really big dorks. Until then, I’ll leave you with this from Awkward Family Photos. Enjoy!

16 comments:

anymommy said...

Wait, you all look lovely in the opening photo. Is that last years? You did a selfless thing, not sure I could have done it.

Lynn Kellan said...

Ahem. I would totally pick the picture where I look awesome and everyone else looks...meh. Ho Ho Ho.

Christy said...

You are totally selfless, not so sure I would have been. Can't wait to see the photo next week! I suppose I should post mine too - I think it's pretty cute. And I got the same rant from a child-less friend, so I made sure to include Matt and I. And Dublin!

Lisa G said...

I wanted to use a picture from the beach where my 40yr old self looks surprisingly great in a bikini, but a good friend is also in the picture and it's a less flattering image of her. I just couldn't do that to her, so I scrapped the pic. I thought about cropping her out, but a photo of me in a bikini by myself in a our Christmas card seemed a little self serving.

Anonymous said...

Priceless. And yes, it should be all about you! Christmas is definitely not the time to be selfless. :)

Can't wait to see it.

jbhat

Heidi said...

"Nothing like giving everyone a yearly documentation of wrinkle encroachment."

That made me laugh!

I'm bad. I just send pics of the kids. I can not be bothered to get me and Scott in there too. It's like one more thing I have to do, you know?

Oh, and I would absolutely choose the photo where I look good. Hello?!

Masala Chica said...

where you look good. absolutely. buy the kids and the hubby something nice and there's your "check and balance." seriously it's all about you.

BTW - Anna - you have a beautiful family! I bet you couldn't go wrong no matter which one you ended up choosing!

Ellen aka Ellie said...

Send the one of you looking good.

Nuff said.

Julia @ Hooked on Houses said...

Oh, my gosh, this cracked me up. I have to admit there's no way I'd send out a Christmas card that I didn't look good in. Not sure what I'd do if Dave's head was cut off all the others! That would be a dilemma indeed...

It always drives me crazy when I get pics of the babies each year instead of my friends, but I can't complain because I do the same thing. It's easier to get a good photo of the two kids than all four of us. I gave up on that years ago! Ha.

dearheart said...

I'm with the crowd on this one. I couldn't send out a card where I don't at least look reasonable. Unfortunately, how the kids (and hub) look are of almost no consequence to me. Yikes! So much for the season of giving....

Kate Coveny Hood said...

I think I stopped being in pictures around the time my first son was born. That's when my wrinkles started getting out of control.

I just wish I could get a decent picture of my kids for a card. But that seems to be as easy as getting a clear shot of a hummingbird's wings while they're in motion...

Promise to post the picture you select.

Shawn said...

I don't send out pictures or cards, so people just have to check out everything on my Facebook page or my blogs....

Gretchen said...

Well you have probably already chosen your photo, but last year I discovered collage photos at Walgreens.com. YOu can pick individual photos of everyone and collage them together. YOu can also do this at picnik.com and save it to your computer or cd, and then print it at cost.co for the same price as a regular photo!

EatPlayLove said...

Well, I'm sending out a picture of just my girls. I don't think most people miss us, if it's a year we can't fit everyone in.

Maybe you could send out a card with a few pictures from the shoot, kind of like an outtake.

Jacci said...

Anna - we do a compilation/collage type thing. That way I can get a good shot of everyone in - including me :)

Did you ever paint your doors black? What the scoop on that one?

~Jacci

Chicago Mom (Heather) said...

Anna - you look very pretty in that picture! I'm totally of the mind-set to pick the best photo of myself. It's hard to take a bad picture of cute kids unless they're cross-eyed. :-)