Imagine it. Eleven people, including five adults and six children, pull up into a large, crowded parking lot December 23. The mission? Take family pictures and get everyone to smile.
My Dad and Mom, Tony and Marsha Chadd, and my sister, Laci Brown, and her two boys, Cole and Chadd came to our house the week of Christmas. We had a WONDERFUL week.
We took advantage of Travis's family all being down last Christmas and went in and took pictures of the whole family. They turned out so well, we decided it would be a great way to commemorate my family being all together, as well!
Monday night, we got all of the family together to open one present each. The kids were ecstatic. Toys were wrapped in those boxes. They were convinced of it! Paper and ribbon went flying when I gave the green flag to open the packages. Cole, my 6-year-old nephew, was SO EXCITED about the clothes he got. He's Mr. smooth when it comes to style. Madalynn wears her heart on her sleeve and her face showed that clothes were not what she expected to see in the box. She was trying to be so polite and grateful, while at the same time holding back tears. Justis, Chadd, Dawson and Jillian reasoned, I suppose, that a gift is a gift, because they immediately stripped down to try on their new duds. I explained to Madalynn that this is just a pre-Christmas gift, and we would still open presents, possibly with toys in them, for Christmas. The coolness of her new sweater dress and matching striped tights put a smile back on her face and she forgot all about the toys.
My mom was the first to figure it all out. Everyone was opening a present the 22nd, before Christmas for some reason, and upon examining all of the clothes, she realized they were coordinating. "Jae?" she asked, "Are we going to get our pictures taken or something?"
I smiled, said yes, then all eyes turned to my dad. He HATES getting portraits taken and always has. "We're getting our pictures taken!?" asked Dad, his blood pressure already rising. We all just giggled as my mom reassured him that it would be okay, and that the experience would be different than the church directory pictures he'd taken with mom just a few weeks before. Like me, he clashes with sales people who try to push people into buying something when they don't want to! I reassured Dad we wouldn't be going to this picture place if they did pressure sales pitches.
We got all fancied up and loaded in the car at noon the next day. Our 1:30 appointment ended up being a 2:15 appointment because of the huge mass of other families taking holiday pictures. Madalynn, Cole, Justis and Chadd were very cooperative and photogenic. Dawson and Jillian had the crankies and getting a smile out of them was DIFFICULT to say the least. I even got a genuine smile out of Dad (a staunch democrat) when I told him as we were posing, "Dad. Think happy thoughts, like President Bush." He just grinned. I'm a republican, so we have some spirited (but fun) political conversations.
Little stomachs were growling by the time we got done with our pictures around three o'clock. Dad and Travis walked the kids over to PF Chang, which was conveniently located just right across the parking lot from the picture place. Mom, Laci and I stayed at Portrait Innovations to chose the best poses and order our pictures. The guys put in a frantic phone call from PF Chang asking for some backup, so Mom and Laci went over while I finished up the picture order.
We were all so hungry, we finished off five Chinese food dishes, two bowls of fried rice, and some excellent complimentary asparagus our waiter sent out. Yum! I went and picked up our pictures after lunch and we headed home through the thick Baton Rouge traffic.
I learned that next time I schedule a portrait sitting with children they need to be well-rested and have full tummies. In other words, our next portrait sitting with be in the a.m.!
We got home and looked at the pictures. The pictures turned out wonderfully, and proved the wait and battling the holiday crowds was well-worth it. We will forever remember Christmas 2008!
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