Truths: Smile!

A picture is worth a thousand words, right?? Well, yesterday with the holiday decorations up and a light layer of snow gracing the ground – it seemed like a perfect time to take: “The Christmas Card” picture.

Okay, yeah it was an ideal setting – but let’s face it, I am running out of time to get the picture, have them printed and mail them out. Ideal time or not: yesterday was THE day.

So, in preparation, my daughter and I scoped out the location in the yard, we dressed the dogs in their winter coats, leashed them and happily ventured out for what we envisioned as a fun time ahead.

Now, we have FOUR dogs – this is not an easy feat by any stretch of the imagination but we went about it in a joyous manner. We have done it before and just like childbirth, you forget how very painful it was.

So, we let the dogs run around as we set up the chair for Abby and I shot a few pictures to see how our masterpiece would turn out.

Abby sits down and I start to bring her the dogs. She is very knowledgeable about how this works: she knows she will have to hold on to their leashes because our dogs don’t listen and “sit and stay.” She also knows the trick is for her to continue to smile the whole time so that if and when the dogs actually all look at the camera at the same time, I can take the photo.

Well, yesterday was anything but easy. The minute we got the dogs settled next to Abby and about ready for the photo shoot – a school bus pulled up and the dogs went nuts, then a neighbor started shoveling the driveway…and more craziness.

Abby was screaming at the dogs and I was screaming at Abby to just SMILE! It was more a scene out of “Mommy Dearest” than it was a scene from “A Dickens Christmas.”

This is what holiday memories are made of, right?

The littlest dog, Penelope, sat on Abby’s lap – which irritated Abby because her paws were wet. (Penelope is our most recent rescue. I bought her at an Amish Puppy Mill auction where she had been bred for 4 ½ years, living in a wire cage. She had 13 teeth removed and had to be shaved down because she was in such bad shape… This is why I preach – Adopt don’t shop for a pet.)

Anyway, Thorp (Our first puppy mill rescue was a breeding dog for 4 years and suffered various infections and illnesses and had teeth removed from gum disease.) was jumping on Abby and getting her wet.

Thus, her heartwarming facial expression in this classic Christmas photo.

This is the picture I wanted to use for our family photo – because, lets face it, this is how the picture taking goes.

Dressing kids (and dogs) in outfits they despise and putting them in uncomfortable positions to get that card that will wow your friends and far away family. We take these pictures as though they are the real us – who we are on a daily basis.

But, as we take the pictures of what we call our normal life – we are propping and primping and screaming things like: “You are grounded if you don’t cooperate, no dessert if you don’t smile, I don’t care that your sweater itches…”

This image we create is so far from who we are on a daily basis that all we do is fight the whole time through.

Yesterday was like that for us as is so obvious in this picture. After 18 shots, we called it quits not even caring if anty of them were good. We walked into the house and I said, “Boy was that ever fun!”

To which Abby just stomped up the steps to her room and the dogs fled the foyer and ran to their beds.

Abby wouldn’t let me use this picture for the cards. “Any one but that one,” she said

So, I chose one where everyone looked happy and serene. It must have been a brief moment when the shouting stopped and everyone forgot who they really are!