Keep Momma Happy

These days it is rare that all three of our adult children are under one roof.    The smell of a juicy turkey baking and my famous sweet potato pie usually reels ‘em in each fall.   Next to cooking, my favorite thing is taking pictures–taking pictures of them.  Collectively, they are my finest moment and the loves of my life.  I cherish the holidays with them and hope to capture just the right smiles for our family photo Christmas card.  Do they care?  You decide.

Family portrait 2012…

Achieved  after  an  appropriate  amount  of  begging,  bribing,  and pretty-pleases with sugar on top.  This is what my little cherubs offered up.  I’m not alone.  My sister-in-law, Auntie Karen, solved the lack of enthusiasm in her family this way:

Toby, the Pomeranian, was the only one with any “cheese” so she hung up her son and daughter’s empty sweatshirts where their beautiful smiles should be.  Mission accomplished.

We laughed about it on the phone and wondered where we went wrong.

Was it the cupcakes we baked for all their birthday parties at school?  Was it when we made their beds and washed their clothes?  Was it all the worrying we did when they got their driver’s licenses?  We decided it had to be all those bedtime stories and fairy tales that turned our sweet little ones into unrelenting, nonconforming monsters.