The first day we went out, the sun was fading fast and they weren’t exactly feeling cooperative.  So I decided we’d try it again.

It wasn’t looking good for this day either.

Then they warmed up a little–but for that dastardly hat!

Of course by then they had behaved for more than two consecutive minutes…

Finally!  Everyone looking at me.  No one scowling.  No tongues hanging out of mouths…

But does it show them as they are at this moment in their lives?  That’s always my conundrum.  These are boys.  Only one of them is remotely concerned about his odor or clothes.  They are funny and goofy and regularly dirty.  The photographer in me wants to wow you with some gorgeous photo of spit-shined boys dressed in Ralph Lauren resisting sugar plums placed on the table next to them with Martha Stewart styling.  But those aren’t my boys–and thank g*d!

What I love about capturing people through my lens is showing them as they are–how beautiful I see them as themselves.  So it will be the last photo above or the final one from the last session (honestly I’m leaning toward that one).

When you are trying to decide what photo to use for you holiday card this year, I urge you to select the one that shows the world who you are right now.  What is going on with your family today.  Those shots are the most sincere and most immune from mocking.  Cause really?  I don’t believe you and your entire family kept those matching white shirts clean for one minute after that session at Pennys was over.

I have to make a decision today because I need to give Tiny Prints a fighting chance to get me my cards before Christmas (actually I just noticed that I can get 20% off any order over $49 and only $5 shipping and get my cards by 12/16 if I order by tonight–what are they?  Miracle workers?)   I think I’m going with these:

Which one do you like the best?  Let me know in the comments.

*I attended a great party hosted by Tiny Prints a few weeks back and I got to have a new head shot taken, see some of my favorite DC Moms and see the new holiday options from Tiny Prints.  They offered me 50 free prints if I wrote a post.  But here’s the thing…I ordered from Tiny Prints last year and my cards got such rave reviews so there wasn’t really any decision about where I was ordering from this year.

The first time I saw the Elf on the Shelf I was intrigued.  He looks so much like an elf my grandmother had in her house every year, so his face brought be back immediately to the magic of Christmas as a kid.

But I hesitated adding the tradition to our house.  Maybe the price point of the “package” made me hesitate–not sure.

Flash forward a few years to last week when I realized that after 14 straight years of having a “believer” in my house I have only a few years left before we stop leaving cookies out for Santa.  Tears immediately sprung to my eyes.  I began to re-think the Elf.  Would it be too late to introduce the tradition?  Would they buy it?

The answer is a resounding YES!

Remember these are all boys here.  Cheers went up when the Elf was pulled out of the bag.  The book was read twice the moment it was opened.  He was immediately named Canoodle (you have to name him to give him his magic).  They* hear him doing things–trying to kick out of the package the first day, notice small changes–when he turns in his position.  THEY HAVE NOT TOUCHED HIM ONCE.  And the best part?  I hear my youngest talking to him (I have to get this on video).

The first morning he was found in a tree.

This morning he was getting in a little reading.

There’s a bit of stressed involved in figuring out what to do with him each night, but having the boys bound out of bed wondering aloud where Canoodle will be this morning??

*Should anyone reading this know my teenager, I’m am sure he would want me to clarify that he is not taking part in this Elf thing.  As his mom, I want to clarify that he is so amazing about keeping the secret.

They don’t like to cooperate–they are three boys.  The wearing of hats was an enticement.  The teenager was annoyed.

They wanted to pretend they were the Beatles.

They dress themselves.

We may have to try this again tomorrow–preferably when I have wardrobe veto power.

Seriously!  When I was a kid it took for-ever for Christmas to come around.

Now?

Christmas day comes and I’m left feeling sad that I didn’t get to really enjoy the season.

When am I going to be organized enough to enjoy the holidays??

I was in Target tonight and saw Ree’s book and thought “I bet she has all these amazing holiday traditions and everything organized and labeled and already wrapped AND she has a New York Times bestselling book!”

Ya know…

I’m clearly not doing this whole thing right.

I was supposed to start in February, wasn’t I?

I’ll admit it. I went shopping on Black Friday.

Now don’t be getting any crazy ideas about me waking up at 2:30 a.m. You’d have to be giving away A HOUSE for me to spend the night in line outside of a store in the middle of November. I’m not 19 yo anymore hoping to see The Rolling Stones once before they retire (hey who’d a thought Keith Richards would live this long??).

All of the shopping I did Friday was Santa-related. Therefore, I wanted to make sure I could easily hide the gifts from the prying eyes of my three crazies.

Lessons learned?

1.  When you drive off in your small car wondering why it was you had thought about driving the big SUV with the tinted windows, go with your gut and turn around to exchange cars.

I looked at the circulars the night before, compared prices, determined the bargains worth pursuing and reminded myself to drive the SUV. So why did I hop in the little car the next morning??
Who freaking knows.

It was early and I still had a turkey hangover. That’s the only way I can explain it.

All I know is I was shoving bags into every crevice in that damn little car, bitching at myself for not having cleaned it out and realizing I’d have to go drop stuff off at home before I could park it in the next parking lot or fear being robbed.

Annoyed–mostly at myself.

2.  ToysRUs needs to get itself a mom blogger panel or something STAT!

Target had red bags to use for Christmas presents.  KMart had black bags that said “no peeking” on them.

ToysRUs?  See-thru tan bags.  Um?  You primarily sell toys.  It’s Black Friday.  Do you think I waited for twenty minutes for staff restock the shelves and stood in that winding line to buy a birthday present for my kid’s classmate?!  This clearly isn’t your first Christmas in business is it?  Do you have any moms on your executive staff?  I mean it had to occur to SOMEONE that providing bags kids can’t see through would be a great idea at this time of the year.

Now you know I’m a slob,  shopped big box this weekend (for the record I was also in supporting small businesses too) and that I drive a gas-guzzling suburban assault vehicle.

Oh. my. god!  I’m a suburban cliche.

Crap.

When it’s 5:30 p.m. on the evening before Thanksgiving and you haven’t even been to the grocery store yet, don’t get on Twitter…and tell a reporter “sure, c’mon over and try to capture Thanksgiving disaster at my house” in an hour and a half.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones. My life is full with so many wonderful things, and the amazing people I’ve met through this blog are among those I count on this day.

“Hey dad, guess what?  I’m Irish because my eyes are blue.”

Well, he heard part of what I said.

I’ve spent the last 39 years being told I MUST be Irish what with the freckles, fair skin, blue eyes and formerly dark brown hair, but I could never be sure.

A friend recently shared a story about having a 40th birthday party thrown for him a few years in advance because he had told his partner that he was older than he was when they first started dating–years earlier.

The gravestone on my husband’s grandfather’s grave is engraved with a birth year in conflict with his birth certificate (My father-in-law decided that if that was the date he wanted people to think he was born it was what would go on the gravestone.  I love that.)

Short of purchasing one of those DNA tests or meeting my biological parents, I will never know if I am really Irish.

This year I’ve made the decision that from this point forward I’m going to own it.  I started with my youngest as evidenced above (okay so he thinks anyone with blue eyes is Irish now, but we’ll iron that out later).  I’m just telling them they’re Irish on my side.

Hey, if people can claim new names (I’m looking at you Bono) or new birth dates, I most certainly may claim an ethnic origin.

I mean it’s not like I’m telling people I’m Hawaiian or anything.

So in honor of my first St. Patrick’s Day as a true Irishwoman, I hope the road rises to meet you and the wind doesn’t mess up your hair (I probably need to work on my Irish sayings if this is going to stick).

Holy cow!

I had no idea how exhausted my mother must have been during the holidays when I was a kid.

I have my three boys, the husband, my parents and brother in town. Not THAT many people, and I’m bushed.

My mom worked as an ER nurse when I was Santa-believing age. She regularly hosted twice as many people in a smaller house on a much smaller salary and never let us see her crack–not even once.

I am not worthy.

I’m 39 years old and it’s taken me this many years to get all of my presents wrapped before Christmas Eve…to have a dinner prepared the night my parents arrive (what? I take them to restaurants with cloth napkins!).

Mom hasn’t had to cook one thing so far this holiday (sure she just arrived this afternoon), I have all the groceries purchased for meals through Friday (even stuff for lunches) and I’m almost done with my cooking (yeah, so I’ll be up REALLY late).

But I’m kinda proud of myself.

I also can’t see straight let alone carry on a conversation with anyone.

So if you don’t hear from me for a few days, it’s not because I don’t love you. I do. But the torch has been passed and I’m the “mom” of the family now, and pretending to be organized is EXHAUSTING.

Merry Christmas!!!

So the other night I had a few quiet hours–a calm before the storm if you will.

Last night I was out trying to cram in some errands before the snow hit.

It started a little earlier than the meteorologists expected.

At midnight, the roads were littered with people who spun out, drove into ditches or couldn’t get up a hill. My 13 yo and I toodled around picking up detergent, getting gas, watching the light show at the gas station (seriously. You tune into a specific radio station and all the lights are choreographed to the music. Without the music it just looks like a 3 yo is in control of the nobs.)

We probably had 3 inches on the ground by 1:00 a.m.

This morning I woke up to this.

(the last two were taken UNDER my car port)

The kids couldn’t believe their eyes.

We haven’t had much snow in the past few years, but the accumulation overnight was nothing compared to what it was by 4:30 p.m.

I tried to take a few of the same shots so you could see the difference.

It’s dark now, but I just let the dog out–our 70 lb black lab. The snow is up to her back. Poor thing didn’t know where to pee. Once she figured it out though, she was off bounding through the snow.

Little P asked me if the snow was going to be here when he woke up in the morning.

I think it’s a pretty safe bet.

Hope you all are keeping warm on this December night.

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If you’d like to see the rest of my photos from today, hop on over to my Flickr page.

I love this time of night/morning–3:41 a.m.

One week until Christmas. Family plans to organize. Work projects to finish up. The next seven days will be crazy.

But now…right now. Everything is still.

I can hear the deep sigh of the dog, the muffled mumbles of a child deep in his dream. When I step outside the air is clear, the stars are crisp and no cars or wind or animals are heard.

We’re expecting a big snow storm tomorrow night. The kids will be home with wet boots and jackets thrown everywhere. I’ll be running to the store to finish my shopping; beginning my cooking for the family that will arrive soon.

But now…right now. Everything is still.