A “Real” Christmas Card

I just got the best Christmas card from my friend Tami. At first it looked like your typical Tiny Print collage with all of the little blocks for the “perfect” photos to feature. There were six blocks, one for each face in her family. As I was putting it with the others, I realized, “Huh, that’s not the best picture of Jillian, their gorgeous daughter.” Taking another look, I noticed that Mitchell’s eyes were closed.

She themed the card the “Year of the Selfie” and all of the photos are, well, bad. LOVE IT!

She summed up exactly how I feel about my Christmas card selection, and for that matter, my life at this stage. When your kids are little, it’s SOO important to feature the perfect photo of their cuteness. Several years of that along with trying to show how good you might look after having said babies. Then, there are the years of featuring their activities. Look! They play soccer! They’re on stage! All super cool and interesting and very important at the time. Throw in a year or two of artsy or funny cards to round out the collection. I’ve got ‘em all!

But, something happened to me this year. I feel like the wheels are falling off the bus a bit around here. Not everyone in my home is still perfect. We’ve got some minor bumps and bruises. Attitudes, pimples, lack of adorable photos… Do I need to send the photo of our perfect family???  I’m just not in the mood.

Then along came Tami’s card. So, Tami, I THANK YOU for keeping it real.

P.S. I hope you look better than that in person at this point!