Holiday cards

I new I wanted to do our family's holiday card* picture this weekend so as to take advantage of some print sales. I bought Bella's holiday dress weeks ago and decided Javi could wear his school uniform (collared shirt, khakis, belt). Outfits - check.

Then, for my birthday (which was Friday), I asked the mountain man to forgo a gift in exchange for putting up the Christmas tree. He corralled the children until I decided to get my lazy self out of bed that morning at 11:30 am. I heard what sounded like bells and got exciting thinking my tree was up and ready for decorations. Not hardly. Those bells were a certain holiday gremlin raiding the candy bowl while wearing reindeer ears. After a not-so-subtle comment, my pencil tree was erected.

Javi opted to watch while Bella and I dressed the tree. I guess the ornaments are old hat to him, but Bella adored unwrapping each one, asking "where dis come from?" and then hearing the story of whose ornament it was. She then hung her ornaments on the same three branches at the bottom of the tree. When she wasn't looking, the mountain man redistributed them for her. This is the first year we haven't had to leave the bottom third of the tree empty for fear of her destructive hands. Rather, she has lovingly tended the tree and remains fascinated by the ornaments on it. I can't wait to let her pick out her own ornament this year. Decorating the tree - check.

So now nothing stood in the way of getting the Best Shot. I knew going in that there'd be no perfect shot, so I decided to face the stress by doing what I could to get both kids in the frame, in front of the tree, with somewhat of a smile on their faces. That was for the best because just getting Bella into her outfit was like wrangling kittens and Javi kept asking me why he had to put on clothes. You know, because we all hang out in our underwear, right?

Let's just say that after breaking a sweat getting that girlchild into tights, undershirt, overdress, and shoes, I then had to do something with the mop that sits on her head. I opted for a headband because you can't go wrong... except she wanted to wear it like a pirate eye patch. Yeah. And then Javi refused to take his shoes off and so kept catching the tree skirt in the treads. Uh huh. Best shot. And I got it. And it will be in folks' mailboxes soon. But I worked for it. Seriously. These are my favorite outtakes:

Somebody really wanted a pirate eye patch. Damn headband.

No one cracks these two up like each other.

After all of that, including what could've been the breakdown of my marriage if the mountain man didn't stop stepping in front of the camera, my darling girl did this of her own free will:

What the fudgsicle?! Game on, little sassypants. Game on!

*And, yes, I saw holiday. When you're sending your cards to friends and family members of all faiths, you have to pull your head out and realize Christmas is only one of the holidays celebrated in December.