Every year, Robbi and I take a Christmas photo. Not to use as a Christmas card, but just to have an official yearly check in. This goes back to our very first Christmas together, when we camped on the beach on Cumberland Island back in 2000. (We weren’t quite established enough as an entity to spend Christmas together in 1999.)
As the family has grown, so has the number of subjects. With each new personality added to the mix, the difficulty of securing unanimous cooperation compounds. And so, I bring you this year’s Christmas picture.
Robbi, Alden, and I were feeling the holiday spirit. Kato was not. August was, as is often the case, fast asleep.
We considered the photo, wondering if it was worthy of being the year’s iconic shot. But, ultimately we decided that it was important that we all be on the same page, mood wise. Applying the old maxim of, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” we tried again.
But our plans were foiled once more. As the rest of us grew dour, Alden’s smile intensified. Christmas was just too good for for frowns, even artificial ones.
Nevertheless, this is the shot for the scrapbook, our memory of Christmas 2011. In spite of the frowns, it was a very good one.
Love the pictures!!!! Where did all of Kato’s hair go?
Alden’s contrarian spirit is a thing of beauty. I can’t imagine she and Iris will have any trouble keeping our many boys in line.