Photo Credit: Kimberly Craig
I don’t know if your family takes a photo each year for your Christmas cards, but let me tell you…it’s an event! I love the idea of capturing beautiful smiles and being able to share a recent photo with friends and family…but it’s an event! Did you hear me say that IT’S AN EVENT? Let me explain!
The planning starts months in advance. You must book your photographer early…or they will book up! And you want to get your photos back by mid November so that you can design and order your Christmas cards. So moms are thinking about this in September or October! They are out buying the outfits…new shoes, and making sure everything coordinates perfectly.
Then comes picture day… the weather must cooperate. You pray…you beg! You’re prepared and can control everything inside of your house… except the weather. You aren’t responsible for that. You are prayed up and the weather is a little cool…but workable. You are up early with everything laid out and ready to roll. You shower and get yourself ready…then you wake the kids!
Monster mom comes out when kids aren’t moving quickly. They must get dressed and hurry to your room where you are waiting to fix their hair. I have three girls and one boy. That’s a lot of hair to get ready. Did I mention that they have LONG hair? Curling iron is hot and first kid is getting curled up. You instruct her to go to kitchen grab breakfast and sit still so that the curls don’t fall out. She is a tom boy…who hates curls…and is probably praying secretly that they will fall out! Next is your diva. She loves having her hair curled…but her hair doesn’t like being curled and doesn’t want to play nice. Hairspray isn’t helping either. You decide to try for a just a few curls up front before calling it quits. Last is your little sleepy head. She hasn’t brushed her hair yet…and fights you to stand still. Finally you get her still long enough to pop a few curls up front while instructing her to get her shoes on and grab breakfast. Last, you wake the baby. He doesn’t need a lot of hair prep…and you decide to wait until you get to the photo shoot to change his clothes. While you are waking him, Diva spills milk all over her outfit… you lose it. You can’t control it any longer. You have worked so hard to make everything so perfect…and it’s quickly falling apart.
Hubby is taking his time and is not ready…meanwhile you have the kids loaded and are in the van yourself! He finally shows. You drive to the photo shoot site and quickly change the baby. He looks great. One last look over the girls…and no one has a curl left in their hair. You quickly touch up your lip stick and out of the van you go. The photos are taken and you unmask and are a nice mama again.
You climb into the van and sigh a huge sigh of relief. Who cares if the kids stain their perfectly new Christmas picture outfits now? I don’t! Haha!
I dream of riding off in my (dream) Jaguar from Jaguar of Naperville when I feel this stressed! Please tell me what I am not the only one!
