Are you in?

Phew...my annual Christmas card photo is officially over, hurried along by the early snowfall that I desperately wanted to take advantage of for its photographic possibilities. It is not an event I particularly look forward to, however, I so enjoy the end result. I have tortured myself this way for as many years as I can remember, and love looking back on the photos of Christmases past. Many have been taken as the children sat under our Christmas tree, and others in front of the mantel, whenever we had one. For some reason, I have upped the pressure on myself to be creative and photograph them in a different way each year. Perhaps it is the ever-honest voice of my husband's brother that I hear as he proclaims that "...last year's was better" or "...you can never beat the one of the boys on the front step" (when they were five and three years old),

but regardless I plan that photo with the same intensity that the "old man" in A Christmas Story bargained for a deal on a Christmas tree. Who doesn't need a little more holiday pressure??!!

The common theme (besides well wishes to friends and family) has been to show off my children...and I make no apologies for that. They represent our family best; and their father and I have yet to join them in a Christmas card photo - partly because of the logistics behind it, and partly because I want to look at the photo with sheer contentment, instead of picking apart my flaws and second guessing what to wear. I think I am like many women, who shy away from the camera, wrong or right. I also think we are misguided, and may regret our opting out of these pictorial keepsakes.

I have, on one occasion, posed for professional photos with my boys, albeit completely unintentionally. The following photos were taken when my boys were two and one yrs old. Despite our best efforts, my baby would not let me put him down, nor would he relinquish the train the photographer had given him, to coax him from my arms. Try as we did, there was no way he would pose for her, thus she suggested that I be in the photos. Despite my protests (I was not dressed for a photo session), and my shyness in front of the camera, I knew it was a losing battle: either pose, or go home empty-handed (photo-wise, of course...).

Apprehension aside, I laughed my way through the shoot as both boys "kept it real" and alternately toddled away, pulled hair (see below), acted silly or squirmed in my arms. Either way, I ended up with photos that are priceless to me, and instead of scrutinizing myself, I simply saw an adoring mother of two hopelessly cute boys. On this occasion, I was in...!!

Are you?