You are reading this blog because, well, we are not sending you a Christmas card this year. Our adorable children will not be joining your friends' adorable children on your refrigerator this year. How many excuses do you need? My favorite is that we just could not pick a decent picture. A visiting relative (who shall remain unnamed) insisted that the holiday greeting should include a picture of the whole family, not just the kids, so s/he offered to snap some shots. A beautiful fall day, off we went to pick apples in a local orchard, which we would later press into cider. The pictures were no good, especially when the children decided to stop cooperating. Uh, that is about 35 seconds into it.

Next, our camera broke. We finally got it fixed many months later. By then, it was December and time to get our Christmas tree. We went to our usual spot, where you can pick out any size Douglas-fir for $10 or splurge on a Noble for $20, got our tree, hauled it home and set it up, then put the kids in front of it and tried to get one good picture of them together. Unfortunately, this event followed closely on the opening-the-advent-calendar event, and there was no washing-of-the-face event in between.

So as to not bore you, we will conclude now by saying "Merry Christmas." After all, isn't that what the flat photo greeting card is all about? A quick greeting that requires very little effort on the recipient's part; just find a magnet and done. So, enjoy the photos if you like, and Happy New Year!