Sometimes your first idea isn’t necessarily your best…
The Thanksgiving turkey was demolished; the gravy congealed and the stuffing reduced to tan crumbs when we awoke on Black Friday in the black grip of terror realizing that neither of us had a solid idea for a Christmas card. What to do? What to do?
Shot with Santa? The local mall has a terrifically authentic looking Santa Claus, but our son has grown so tall that he would completely blot out the jolly one. What would be the point of paying almost thirty clams for a shot with an obscured Saint Nick?
It was too late to get matching outfits and take pictures on a beach with “Happy Holidays from the Williamses” scrawled along the top. Too cold as well. We’re not talented enough actors to effectively pretend we weren’t freezing to death on a windswept beach.
What to do?
I looked at this year’s Halloween costume that we couldn’t bring ourselves to discard and came up with an idea. We put a lot of work into that costume. It was so nice we were going to use it twice!
I told Tina that we could have a fireplace video playing on the iPad TV tube and deck Lloyd out in a Santa hat and beard Tina had recently sewn. She liked the idea so we shanghaied our son; suited him up and took a couple hundred pictures.
Lloyd wasn’t really into it. Neither were we. We reviewed the shots, and none of them were doing it for us.
Maybe a sarcastic crack on the inside will save it.
No. Nobody will get it.
It was a crappy idea.
We scrapped it.
When all else fails, go traditional. Tina planted our boy in front of the Christmas tree — SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! –and it came out beautifully!
Merry Christmas!
There’s a reason why cliches are cliches — they work!
I’m keeping my eye open for some matching sweaters for next year’s card. I think I’ll be able to get a pretty good deal on a post-holiday closeout. You’ll find me at Ross or Burlington Coat Factory on the 26th!
