...If Not Efficient

In college, my girlfriends teased me that the best word to describe me was "efficient." Even my car (white Ford Escort, 2 door, front wheel drive, stick shift, tape deck, automatic nothing) fit the bill. So this year, I set myself on the route for quality, efficient holiday cards. 
- Purchase the Groupon for our local photography studio - just a 20 minute session with access to the electronic files.
- Quick stop for new shirts for the boys that will double as their holiday finest.
- Early order through Snapfish - my favorite cards to date - in time for their discount code and free shipping.

Then, in my last bid to be efficient, I set the box of cards aside to wait for us to get a lease signed in Portland. How great (and efficient!) would it to be to tuck a little "we moved!" note inside each holiday greeting? So the cards sat, and sat, and sat.  We realized that we weren't going to find a place before the holidays and postponed our family move to February.  We dove into the holiday season and buried the box of cards under shopping bags and Christmas cheer.  Fast forward to 3 days before Christmas, and, well, the cards went in the mail box this morning. Happy New Year!


I did want to post a few pictures from our photo session. If these pictures were truly reflective of our year, you would probably see:
- Bald spot on the back of Josh's head where we had to super glue to close a wound;
- Perpetual spot of drool/food goober on my left shoulder
- Long, shaggy hair covering ears and eyes of the kids
- Wrist braces and finger splints holding Scott's hands together
- Owens' short pants from an early fall growth spurt (oh wait, you can see those!)

- Two boys wrestling through half the photo shoot and (literally) running circles around the photographer
- Busted knees on all my pants (which I call a sign of good mothering - lots of time down on the floor with my kids!)
- Bags under eyes and weary hearts, processing all the change that is to come

As it turns out, a clean change of clothes, quick trim over the ears the night before, and a talented photographer can make our real life look pretty spiffy. Thankfully, the joy and smiles are 100% real... in no part coerced through the promise of M&Ms sitting on the front counter.

Merry Christmas!