Living Well | Holiday Photos
They were snuggled against the pillows on the daybed in the boy room, a four year old, a two year old, and a newborn, all in striped pajamas for the first Christmas card photo of the three of them. The words on the card said something about getting a baby brother for Christmas.
That was seventeen years ago, and nearly every year since, I’ve grouped us together, set the camera’s timer, clicked the shutter button, and raced to get into the frame. We call it the Least Wonderful Time of the Year. So dubbed early on when wrangling boys was like herding cats, when racing, tree climbing, stick wielding breaks were needed in order to regain a half-minute of sit-still and focus. But, gracious, all that intention, that effort, that planning, and patience over the years?
It paid off.
Because look what we have now. A collection of us. In ages and stages and places, moments of sharp focus in the blur of time, from Alaska, to Florida, to Wyoming and Montana. Barefoot on the beach, in wool and down in the loft of my husband’s childhood barn, in hikers and heels on an old wooden bridge, in stocking hats and fluffy snowflakes at the sledding hill, in fallen leaves in the horse pasture with a happy golden puppy.
This year, when everyone was home over an early fall weekend, we dashed through a snowstorm to the old barn of some friends, stood in front of a hayloft window, and paused for our picture. Some shots caught our eyes closed, some caught our faces silly, some caught us shrieking with cold. Nellie was mostly a blur. But, in the end, there was this, our twenty-twenty edition of this wonderful life.