December 11, 2020. Sheltering at Home Week 39
Every year, Jon and I send out a Christmas photo. And every year, we try, once again, to create a happy family photo like those that come to us from all over the country at this time of year.
We hear from happy families in Grosse Pointe. Loving families in San Diego. Athletic families in Petosky. Good-looking families in Sausalito. Well-adjusted, high-functioning families in San Francisco.
And every year, we try again for a happy family photo of our own.
And every year, against all odds, we pull it off.
Everybody’s smiling in our holiday photos. Everybody’s hugging. Everybody’s getting along famously. We look good. We could be the Nelsons, the Waltons, the Brady Bunch.
That’s because, for every photo that gets sent out to our happy family friends each year, there’s a pile of rejects:
Somebody sticks out his tongue out at his sister. Somebody kicks her brother in the shins. Somebody picks up the cat and plays with it.
We are a grumpy, strong-willed bunch, we Newhalls. Photo sessions with us are a power struggle, and have been since baby Christina’s first video — in which the camera keeps bobbing away from the newborn Christina to the antics of big brother Peter.
No, up until now we Newhalls have kept our secret of secrets — that we are a scrappy, cranky, competitive happy family.
And I’ve got forty years of Christmas card rejects to prove it.
More holiday stories at “The Perfect Christmas Tree — I Finally found It.” And, “It’s August and It’s Not Too Soon to Wonder — Can Christmas Be Christmas Without the Kids?”
What a great recollection about your past Christmas cards! We all loved your cards, and we remember that each has some tales to tell. Thanks for updating us on this year’s version!
OK. Now I’m thinking I’ll have to take a stab at a Christmas “poem” next year. I didn’t realize we had such a fan club.
Hilarious post. I love the outtakes, and my favorite is Uncle Jon and the cat, so typical.
Yes. Cat first. Family Christmas photo a distant second.
But you both look very happy!
Have a Happy, healthy and “quiet” Christmas.
Ann
Ann — yes. We are both doing very well. We are staying healthy. And we both are working on books, as well as the house remodeling we’ve been doing. So we’re staying busy. But it’s been almost eleven months since we last saw our children. Luckily, we had a week here with the whole gang in January.