Christmas Card photo Mishaps and other traditions

What traditions do you and your family have at this time of year?

Chris and I started the tradition a few years back of having a heck of a time getting a Christmas card photo. This was obviously not intentional, and we attempt to break the tradition each year. We were successful last year. We went for a family photo at a photo studio, and got a decent photo. Although it is not my favorite picture, at least we were all looking in the general direction of the camera, and both boys were smiling. Should I even ask for more than that? Who really cares that our clothes are wrinkled, right? The year before that we ended up sending out Christmas cards late and without a picture because every picture that we took (obviously at the last minute) was horrible. This year we are trying to be on top of things, and every time I think we have a winner, something happens like the printer cuts the top of Chris' head off in every print. I am including a couple of shots today that did not make the Christmas photo list this year. I will leave it up to your imagination to figure out why.

Maybe next year we can break that tradition. When the boys are a little older... which is quickly becoming my mantra. Things do get easier, right? I'm just trying to figure out when that magic age is...

Here are a handful of other traditions that we have. Some are from our childhood, and some are ones that Chris and I started when we got married or either when the kiddos came along:

• We decorate the tree on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It has to be taken down before the new year- old wives tale. And we are clear lights folks. We generally enjoy a glass of wine or our first egg nog of the season while we decorate Saturday evening.


• We open our gifts to/from one another on Christmas eve after the boys are in bed- this one may have to change in the coming years as we are having to wait up for Santa now. We'll see.


• Santa brings each boy three gifts a piece, signifying the three gifts of the Wise Men. Those gifts are unwrapped, and everything else is wrapped from mama and daddy.


• The boys and I have a Birthday party for baby Jesus for our neighbors.

Our pastor taught this week about traditions. Why do we have traditions? They keep us tender to what really matters. They help us to slow down and pay attention and remind us that it is not about us.

This Christmas season, don't let the traditions become just rituals. Reclaim the meaning of the traditions and use them as a reminder to slow down and remember the season of our Lord's birth.