Getting the Right Picture

I LOVE Thanksgiving! It is my favorite holiday of the year.  I love everything about it....the food, the traditions of sharing our gratitude formally, the table cloths and napkins, the fancy dishes, and of course the Family!  I love that we have so many people stuffed into my small house.  Everyone is here just to be together and enjoy the present moment.  I love the slowness of it all.  How it takes all morning to cook and prepare and then we eat and eat and eat and play games and watch movies.  An entire day of just piling into one home and slow cooking with the people we love. 

I think one of the things I love the most is the traditions we are setting for our children.  Seeing my kids get so excited yesterday was priceless.  My 5 year old's face was lit up in a huge smile and look of pride when everyone was tearfully sharing their gratitude cards and it was her turn to read.  My sister-in-law and brother came this year for the first time.  My daughters thought it was so special to learn how to fold napkins like Aunt Ninew was teaching them to and they took such joy in helping make the dips (even though they were making the biggest mess ever). 

We even had my mom try to get some good family pictures to use for a Christmas Card this year.  I'll admit, I'm one of those moms that sets her family up in front of a camera every year in hopes of getting a good Christmas Card picture if I don't have one from the year where all of us are together.  I can see the eye rolls even before the first shot.  They know I keep taking them over and over again until I get the perfect one.  By perfect I don't mean we all have to be sitting still and smiling and looking perfectly pretty (just me.  :))...I'm all about REAL.  But I want a shot that captures our family and doesn't make anyone look too distorted or ridiculous.  I mean I'm sending these pictures to many many people that have not seen our family in a long time so this picture is really them seeing us when we can't be there.  I love it when we had the perfect shot during the year that we can use but too often it comes down to squeezing a photo session in right before I look into getting the cards done.  I really am thinking that this year we will just send one of the funnier ones or less than perfect ones because I. Am. Sick. Of. Pictures!  And really, this is my year to start being all about keeping things REAL right?! 

I love that my youngest wanted to wear his new green boots but they are way too big on him and kept falling off every few minutes so half the photo shoot was spent chasing him and putting his boots on!  It made for a fun photo shoot.  Hopefully we'll find one out of the many to use for our card.  Speaking of holiday cards, please don't forget about my Giveaway that ends this Sunday! 

I am really hoping to fit a run in today and burn off some of the copious amounts of food I ate yesterday!  Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

So much for that Blog Burn Out that I mentioned.  I think it came and went. 

Amanda