Picture Perfect -- Not so Much

Every December, it's the same thing. The struggle to come up with a photo that is worthy of being sent out as the annual Smith fam. Christmas card begins. 

I take A LOT of pictures of the Smithlings throughout the year, but we rarely ever have a picture with all five of us. Why must it be so difficult to get our family together for a family portrait? And why do we never arrange to have our pictures taken professionally? (Perhaps this is a New Year's resolution.)

I truly enjoy receiving Christmas cards in the mail from friends and family, but I must admit there is oftentimes a teeny, tiny twinge of envy. I clearly have too many really creative friends and relatives. And how do the families with wee little babes find the time/energy to make it to a portrait sitting, then manage to arrive with clean clothes and smiles on their faces? Impressive! I have one teen and two young adults and can't make it happen. It takes planning, effort, and patience. Obviously, I am lacking in one or more of those areas.

Here are some of the options we considered for our seasonal greetings:

Can you tell I had a little too much fun Jib-Jabbing?!

Colorful? Yes!
Silly? Absolutely!
I think these all represent our family accurately, but I just wasn't ready to use any of these images on a card.

We settled on this:

I searched through months and months of pictures hoping to find one (just one!) picture that all five of us were in. This was one of the handful of pictures that I found that captured all five of us at once. This shot was taken in September as we celebrated a certain someone's 21st birthday. We had gone out to eat at a favorite Tex-Mex restaurant. All five of us are smiling, looking at the camera, and all eyes are open. Yay! Thanks to some editing skills, we were able to get rid of the dinner plates, drinking glasses and straws that were visible at the bottom of the image.  It all worked out.

We seem to have no trouble rallying the troops to go out to eat dinner, so perhaps we need to plan a family dinner outing, then sneak in a photo shoot for dessert. I suppose that'll work, provided nobody splatters their clothing with food. 

Next Christmas, it'll be different.
Probably not...

Fa-La-La-La-La

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Smith Haus -- outdoors and inside. Now I just need to finish checking off the items on my shopping list. 

Who has been naughty? Who has been nice? 

After at least one more shopping trip, I think we will be ready to celebrate our Savior's birth! Wait... then there's present wrapping, goodie baking, egg nog drinking, merry making, and "caroling, caroling in the snow" to squeeze in before the end of the holiday season. Why must we create such busy schedules for ourselves? Each year I try to simplify, and I'd like to think I'm getting better at doing the important stuff first.

So are decorations, Poinsettias, and holiday busyness really necessary in order to celebrate Christmas? Probably not. But it's tradition. And tradition is the glue that holds families together. At the Smith Haus, tradition dictates that we have to make Buckeyes and molasses spice cookies. And peanut butter fudge. So, maybe it's really sugar that's the glue; not tradition.

Our family attempts to keep Jesus at the center of the season, yet liberally sprinkle in the joy and cheer that colorful lights (or plain, clear ones), wreaths, the holly and the ivy, fudge, friends, family time, peace on Earth, goodwill toward men, etc... add to the festive celebration.

Wanna see how we have decked the halls?

Thanks to several jumbo packs of shatterproof ornaments from Costco, I was able to dress up the front door wreath and garland with glittery old-fashioned looking decorations.  

I wanted our front entry to look like it came off the cover of Frontgate catalog, without the Frontgate price. Mission accomplished!

Our street is aglow with Christmas lights.

To change things up, we decided to hang the stockings (with care, of course) by the outdoor fireplace. Santa doesn't even need to use the chimney.

Back in January, I stumbled upon an awesome "after Christmas" sale at a nursery/floral shop and found this lovely silk arrangement for 75% off retail. Score! Although it doesn't show up very clearly, there is a lot of iridescent shimmer going on. This arrangement may have to stay out on display for a few weeks after the boxes of Christmas decor are hauled back up to the attic. It looks wintery, right?

Unpacking this ornament each year always makes me smile. Our beloved California neighbor, Larry, painted this for us the year we got Bartholomew and Jemima, a.k.a. the Sandy Claws duo. (Groan.) 

The old "Shiny Brite" ornaments in this basket are fragile, but I simply must display them every year. These vintage beauties likely date back to the 1940s and 1950s. A few of the decorations are from Mr. Smith's side of the family -- his grandma's and/or mom's ornaments. The majority of the oldies, but goodies, are treasures we acquired from cleaning out our first home. The original owner of our Spokane bungalow was a ninety-something-year-old gentleman, Mr. White. When Mr. W. passed away, his daughter quickly put the house on the market. Mr. White had lived there since the 1920s. The daughter didn't care to thoroughly clean things out. When we took ownership, we ended up with several pieces of furniture, an antique mirror, a few boxes of "Shiny Brite" ornaments, as well as a lot of junkyard worthy items.

One of the most unique ornaments is shaped like a tea pot -- short and stout. (You can see it in the lower left corner of the basket. While it is not my favorite, it is interesting looking.) As I was surfing the Web, I found an antique ornament just like it, selling for $10. 

Each ornament on our Christmas tree has a memory or significant event tied to it. It is such an enjoyable walk down memory lane each year as we decorate. Each one of the Smith kids has a box that contains their ornaments. We have added at least one or two ornaments to their individual stashes each Christmas. It'll be a sad day when they each move out and take their decorations with them -- a happy kind of sad. My tree will likely look bare.

Last, but not least, this decoration is truly a treasure. When #2 Smithling was in 1st grade, the students made handsome wreaths as gifts. It's hard to believe that was thirteen years ago! Yes, I hang this masterpiece up on the wall every Christmas season. 

Its value? Priceless!

The Texas Tundra

Icemageddon or Icepocalypse? Whatever you choose to call the big ice storm that hit DFW this past week, one thing's for sure; it's been brrrrr cold! 

This graphic from the Wednesday, December 4th weather forecast certainly did not look promising. The temps were in the 80s on Wednesday, so it was hard to imagine such a dramatic shift. No. Wait. This is north Texas and just about anything weather-wise is possible. Oftentimes, the local weathermen don't get it quite right.
This time, however, they nailed it!

Thankfully, we five Smiths all get along, because due to impassable roads and school closures, we have been stuck indoors sharing a goodly amount of family bonding time. 

Mr. Smith grew up in Oklahoma, I grew up in Indiana, and we have lived in places like Spokane and Ft. Collins that see a lot of snow, so we are no strangers to winter weather; however, this was not your average, run-of-the-mill winter snowstorm. The freezing rain/sleet/ice started falling on Thursday afternoon. It may look like snow, but this white stuff is rock hard. Several inches of ice accumulated overnight. Thankfully, we did not lose our electricity.

The DFW metro area pretty much came to a grinding halt -- or maybe it was a sliding stop? There was no school or work on Friday.

On Saturday, the road conditions had not changed one bit, as temperatures on Friday did not get above freezing.

In the afternoon on Saturday, we all decided to venture out to Kroger, which is three miles away from our neighborhood. It took about 45 minutes to get to the store. There were no eggs or milk (dairy) to be found. I guess it's a good thing we use soy and/or almond milk, as there were no shortages of this kind of milk.

The parking lot at Kroger was truly an ice rink. One customer was seen skating from the store with bags of groceries in hand. No, he did not do a triple toe loop, but this guy certainly had the right idea.

We opted to take an alternate route home; however, the condition of the roads on the more heavily traveled route was no better than the city streets we were trying to avoid. Cars were stopped/stuck in the middle of the three lane highway. Renegade drivers took to the median to get traction in the grass. Those vehicles to our left are off road. There is no paved lane there. 

The median route was also a more convenient way to get around the stopped vehicles. We stayed off of the median. We were stuck in the icy ruts, creeping along at 20-25 mph. Slowly, but surely, we made it home.

I found this photo of I-35 north of DFW that tells the tale of big rigs stopped quite literally in their tracks -- for days. 

This pretty much describes the situation. Schools were also closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Day 6: We are finally out of the deep freeze. Ahhh! Things are starting to thaw out, and the schools have all reopened. I guess this is one for the books, or for the blog. 

Even though it is not even officially winter yet, I am quite ready for spring. Thankfully, temperatures are forecasted to be back in the 70s next week. I'll believe it when I see it.

I Get the Message

I love my son.

That is all.