Family Christmas Pictures

An annual ordeal, family pictures. This time, though, we really lucked out. I was telling a friend that we needed a family picture to send to Grandpa and Grandma (they had to ask us explicitly to send one for Christmas because the last one they had was taken when Nathan was born and Marion was baptized). She offered to look up some fun poses and background ideas and take the pictures for free because she's not professional yet. If you can believe it, she got Jacob to smile his gorgeous real smile. She's good. We ended up with more than one good shot. I didn't think it was possible. Between the tantrums about not wearing the styleless outfits Mom picked out and which child gets to sit on which parent's lap, I thought all my hopes for a memorable picture were gone with that freezing cold wind blowing our hair around by the blue spruces. We did end up with good pictures, though, and another great example of nice things friends do for each other.

How do I know when it's a good time to blog? When I have a million things to do, of course! So many fun avoidance behaviors to choose from and this time it's blogging. We had a great time during our Thanksgiving trip to Texas. My five favorites were: (The Alamo --->)
1. Leaving the Colorado cold behind for the Texas sunshine. We had temperatures in the 70s and 80s the whole time with only one day of rain!
2. The kids were great travelers. No fights in the car (thank you Jumanji DVD and well-placed Dairy Queens!) Nobody threw up!
3. The Alamo was an incredible place. Hundreds of people were there the day we went to visit but it was unbelievably quiet and almost sacred. The IMAX movie at the mall on the River Walk moved me to tears for the sacrifices of the band of ordinary men who stayed to defend their freedom.

4. Allen's cousins and aunts and uncles are some of my very favorite people. (Aunt Cora Beth in

Weatherford--->)

They all have this tradition of thinking of and serving others that makes them very friendly and comfortable to be around.
5. Returning to Allen's uncle's home after a 3-hour walk that should have been only 1 but the little boys were simply incapable of walking in a straight line through a dry river bed or walking on their own on the access road and always wanted to be carried. My relief was palpable when Allen's aunt showed up to guide us back out. Jacob was an absolute warrior staying behind with me and Nathan and Samuel, continually shepherding the younger brothers and distracting them with great whacks of machete-sticks on dead limbs, rocks, you name it. Whew.
It was one of my favorite family vacations ever!

(Uncle Lewis and Aunt Mary Bliss in Oklahoma City--->)