Do You See What I See?

I often wonder what you all think when you come to my blog. You see this bucolic house in suburbia not far from Manhattan. You see my decorating, crafts and cooking. You hear my stories some funny others not so much. I try to portray reality. My successes as well as my faults. No one is perfect. I certainly am not. My children certainly are not. This is why I felt it important to tell you all of our day in the city as it was. I could have easily said it was a lovely day and posted pictures. But that would have been a partial truth. And it certainly would not have been entertaining.

As I sit and compose this post, in lieu of lovely family time filled with togetherness by the fire I sit alone in the kitchen. Chocolate chip cookies are baking in the oven. I did not make these myself. I bought the dough through a school fundraiser.

And I cannot for the life of me get these things to bake properly. Some are undercooked and others are overcooked like hockey pucks. I chuckle as I know my husband would have some wise-ass comment like "Nice cookie. And you have a food blog?" Much the way, every time the smoke detector goes off he shouts from his office "Uh-oh Mommy's cooking again!" We joke around like this all the time. So I have these things that vaguely resemble cookies and we are supposed to leave them for Santa. Um, do you think he'd like some apple pie a la mode because I seriously fucked these up!

Ahhh, and Merry Christmas to you too my Little Hockey Puck!

I also have a few more Christmas cards to get out. Addresses that got lost when the old laptop died last year and cards I have received from people I had completely forgotten about... blame the old computer crashing for that too.

When we open our Christmas cards in the mail we usually see beautifully dressed children with their hair done neatly smiling happily at the camera. Well most of us know the blood, sweat and tears it takes to get that one perfect picture. Before I had a digital SLR I would use my old Canon to try to capture that perfect memory. I would spend a ton of money developing roll after roll after roll only to have to go back and reshoot my subjects causing yet more blood, sweat and tears. Christmas pictures are hard things. As my kids get older it doesn't get easier. There is always one unwilling to play nicely and smile for the camera.

This past summer we went to the lovely Peak's Island off the coast of Maine to celebrate our aunt's 70th Birthday and my In-law's 50th Wedding Anniversary. The children, especially my daughter, looked particularly pretty that day. And since I had my camera this would prove to be the perfect opportunity to take pictures for our Christmas cards. The boys wore their navy blazers and their shorts, madras and seersucker, and Rebecca proudly wore her pink and green Lilly. I knew I was going to have the best photos. Until I was proven wrong.

As I sorted through hundreds upon hundreds of pictures earlier this month I found not one good picture of all three children. Not a one!

So I did what any good mother with a sense of humor would do. I used our outtakes! Nothing better shows my kids' personalities at their best!

Below is our card... a photograph of it because I still don't know to use the scanner. Anyhow a bit blurry, but here it is!