When I was living at home my parents always played some Walter Brennan records every Christmas that were ballads, some fun & cheerful, some sad & lonely. The main one I remember was about an elderly couple getting letters in the Christmas mail from each of their grown children. Each one is saying that they will not be able to come home for the holiday, assuming that the other siblings are going to be there. So the grandpa slowly walks back to the house from the mailbox dreading telling his sweet wife that no one will be home for Christmas. Unfortunately this particular song always runs through my mind when I have to email my mom that we won't be able to make the out-of-state trip this year. ugh! (Hmm, me thinks she may have known what she was doing all those years ago! Ha!)
We go "home" for Christmas every other year & this year is the stay home year, so it will be the four of us. We'll go out to a nice restaurant on Christmas Eve & open gifts around our tree, then sleep in on Christmas morning. It feels weird to do that after so many years of getting up early for the kids & their stockings etc. But for now we are an adult family & this works right for us.
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Speaking of adults, I noticed some blogs about how hard it is to capture good photos of small children for Christmas or whenever & thought I might share my attempt to get some candid shots of my BIG KIDS the other night. 
I didn't want them to pose & give me the obligatory smiles so I just caught them while they were talking about movies, but soon they were being all goofy for me. At least when they were little boys I could actually boss them around & they would do what I said! No such luck anymore! Ha! Gotta love 'em though! (Have no idea why the font changed on this section!)
Merry Christmas!
I love candid photos!
ReplyDeleteAnd Christmas music!
My favorite Christmas songs are Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt and Baby It's Cold Outside with Leon Redbone and Zooey Deschanel.
Oh my gosh, visions of my three boys as young men are running through my head after seeing yours.... Wow!! I am planning on stealing some of your Christmas music, btw, as it looks pretty excellent and I am hosting this year, so I better get some rolling on the ipod soon.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for joining the Club over at my blog. I really appreciate your wanting to check it out again!
This was fun to read. I like your trip down memory lane, a glimpse into my future with a gronw-up boy (sleeping in sounds good). Lovely lovely post!
ReplyDeleteGreat candids!
ReplyDeleteI love Christmas music too. I love Josh Groban's Christmas cd and any Amy Grant CD and of course my Elvis. Oh yes, I love Dean Martin too..especially the Rat Pack Christmas cd.
I started a whole playlist just of Christmas music this year! It's great because I get all of my favorites for free.
ReplyDeleteDon't you just love the Trans-Siberian Orchestra? their music always puts me into a Christmas mood
ReplyDeleteI like your tradition for Christmas and sharing it with extended family as well as just your immediate family; for years we lived away from family and rarely got home; maybe one out of every 4-5.
enjoyed the pictures of your sons
betty