
Wrestling at least 2/3rds of our kids to hold still for a picture before the whole tableau is destroyed.

Cal, Postmaster General of Gift Dispensery.

Mack with one of his favorite gifts: a headlamp. (Other favorite gift: an 8-pack of chapstick. I don't know.)

A rare all-family photo. We are all making unfortunate auto-timer faces (that is to say alternately caught off-guard or expectant) but at least all our eyes are open and no one is moving. I'll take it.
Yeah, so anyway, Christmas was fun. Both Joe and I took a week of vacation the week between Christmas and New Years, and I would say that the decompression from the work week to the vacation week has been acute and disorienting, transitioning from having too much to do to having...well, nothing to do. But again: I'll take it.
Oh, and unrelated to anything, but since I'm rambling (and apparently teeming with parentheticals) anyway, just a pro tip: the very best day to go into the post office to renew your passports is December 23rd, because it's already past the point where people are actually trying to mail Christmas presents (procrastinators non-withstanding, but likely even they've given up and are just ordering gift-certificates to Outback Steakhouse online) and the postal workers are super-efficiency mode, if somewhat (and understandably) grouchy. Cal needed his passport renewed for a trip we'll be taking later this summer (we got his first passport when he was just a few weeks old--in his picture he is propped up on some kind of swing seat and slumped in a pile of drool) and Mack has never had a passport, because barring a well-stocked cabinet of barbiturates (I'll leave it open-ended who would be the recipient of this pharmacologic intervention) no one in their right mind would want to take that kid on an international flight anywhere. However, might I venture the opinion that these two are the cutest passport photos ever taken of anyone, ever?

You wouldn't even be able to guess that I took them in the bathroom, because it's the only room in this house with an actual white (well, beige) wall. Whoever lived here last painted the living room this South Beach tangerine color which I have gradually become inured to, but in the way that people who live near a pork fat rendering plant gradually stop noticing the smell.
Adorable passport pics.
ReplyDeleteAnd I didn't get anything as cool as a headlamp [want!] or an 8 pack of chapstick. :) I would say win all around. Great gifts.
Coop! Haven't seen him in ages.
ReplyDeleteYup, cutest passport pics ever.
ReplyDeleteSo who gave Mack the very practical gift of chapsticks?! Reminds me of another practical gift given to my two boys by my mom some years ago - AA batteries!
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered how/why agnostics or atheists celebrate Christmas. What do you tell your children about Santa Claus and what the meaning of the holiday is (other than pure unbridled materialism?) I'm not Christian and don't celebrate Christmas because although we have bastardized the holiday into an overly commercial celebration of American excess, I'm not sure what I'd be celebrating other than that, and that doesn't seem like something to celebrate. It is originally a holiday meant to celebrate the birth of one religion's deity; if you don't believe in a deity, what are you celebrating?
ReplyDeleteWell, to get technical, I believe originally it was a celebration of the Winter Solstice (that is to say, before there was Christianity) but what we tell our kids is that it's a celebration of family and togetherness and being thankful for all the good things we have. Also there are presents. Like chapstick.
ReplyDeleteToo cute! and Mack's smiling :)
ReplyDeleteWe recently went and got passport pictures taken for a spring trip and We ended up with the worst ever passport pictures of our kids. I told myself that its ok because no one could possibly take good passport pictures of a 1 year old and a 4 year old. Maybe I should have brought them to your bathroom. We are hoping for post office success on New Years eve.
ReplyDeleteyour kids are beautiful
ReplyDeleteI second the missage of the Coopster! I loved your blog entries from Coop herself way back in the day :)
ReplyDeleteIs Joe wearing scrub pants? If so, I'm glad I'm not the only one who wears them around the house. :)
ReplyDeleteWhere is the family going out of the country?
ReplyDeleteGift I gave that has had the biggest response: A headlamp for my FIL from REI.
ReplyDeleteGift on my wish list I didn't get: Chapstick.
My DD wears scrubs every day...they are her jammies of choice. We've switched from calling her Bunchkin to Scrubkin.
Enjoy the week off! ♥
Chapstick and a headlamp - sounds like all the bases were covered. Actually, I am a bit envious of the headlamp.
ReplyDeleteI did not know you could take your own passport photos. I thought you had to go to some place approved. Stupid me paid $10 at the UPS store and my pic was nowhere as cute.
The date may have been chosen to correpond with the winter solstice but Christmas at its heart has always been a celebration of the birth of Christ. I think it is such a shame that people who are outright non-believers pick and choose which aspects of the secularized holiday will suit them, and a further shame that these aspects usually have absolutely nothing to do with worship or belief.
ReplyDeleteAre you in NY right now for the holidays?
ReplyDeletei think it's such a shame when people criticize others for their personal life choices. Jesus said "love thy neighbor".
ReplyDeleteYou have a wonderful looking family.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the remaining days of the holidays.
Keep smiling :)
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