Christmas Miracles

When I was mommy to only one child, I had the time to fret over inconsequential things,

like the yearly Christmas card.

I would start planning the Christmas card in mid-October, early November.

Seriously.

What an annoying over-achiever I was.

This photo is from 2 years ago.

See Megan's adorable, furry boots that went just perfect with the outfit?

The store didn't have her size and I just HAD TO HAVE THEM for the Christmas card picture.

After traveling to every Gymboree in Central Ohio and not finding her size, I ordered them online . . . but I was worried they wouldn't fit when they arrived (so I ordered five pairs of them, in five different sizes, just to make sure I had the right size.) I'm honestly not kidding.

That night, I greeted John at the door with, "Honey, don't be mad at me but . . . )

And you wonder why they call him St. John.

This year, things are a little different.

I haven't slept in 4 months and if Gymboree is selling $50 boots for toddlers I sure don't know about it.

Then I started receiving some holiday cards in the mail and had an "Oh Crap" moment.

That is, oh crap it is mid-December I haven't even made our Christmas card yet.

Oh the humanity!

I took approximately 93873209584975 photos, attempting to get just ONE that was usable.

Here's how it went . . .

Why do they both look terrified???

It's not like I threatened "no lunch" until I had the perfect photo.

Or maybe Brendan is thinking, "Mom will you take me out of this stupid basket.

I feel like an idiot here."

And then you have the adorable-Megan-going-in-for-a-kiss-while-Brendan-pulls-away photo.

Not pictured: Megan "delicately" grabbing Brendan's head, kissing him so hard he had an imprint of her lips on his temple for the rest of the day, all while accidentally poking him in the right eye, leading to 20 minutes of hysterical crying.

Then a complete and total lack of cooperation from the both of them.

This is Megan growing a little tired of my plan.

I keep a little pack of orange tic tacs in my purse for just such moments.

If you look carefully in the bottom right corner of Megan's mouth, you will see the orange residue from the tic tacs I was feeding her to smile.

Part of me is ashamed and part of me just isn't.

And finally, proof that Christmas miracles really do happen.
Both my little elves managed a smile at the same time.
Oh, how full of Christmas cheer I am :)

P.S. I did return the boots that didn't fit her.

P.S.S. Her sweater this year was from Walmart.

Oh how times have changed.