Almost Picture Perfect

The year was 2006 and we were in Berchtesgaden, Germany shopping. In a clothing store containing adult and children’s clothes I saw two dark blue jumpers with embroidered flowers on the front and light blue gingham trim that looked very German and would fit our one and two year old granddaughters. We needed a third one for our four year old granddaughter so the owner of the shop called another shop in town where he was sure they had a bigger size. He took off at a swift pace and sure enough returned with the third one. We brought them home and that was the beginning of my picture taking of grandchildren for Christmas cards.

Avery in her German jumper.

Adrianna and Jay age four, Avery about 20 months and Bella age two pose
for the Christmas card in 2006.

Each year I purchased look alike dresses for Adrianna, Bella and Avery and when there were five in the picture after the birth of Carter, the boys wore coordinating clothes. The children were almost always barefoot

When the grands were small my daughter-in-law stood behind me and made goofy faces to get all of them to smile. A particularly cute shot was when they were sitting on the steps leading to the upstairs of my son and daughter-in-law’s house. The little girls were dressed in white and red dresses. It was Carter’s first Christmas card picture and he gave me a great smile.

Some of the dresses over the years were yellow print, blue print and blue sundresses. The year the girls wore yellow dresses was one of my favorites. I ended up having Emily Kunsky paint a picture of the photo and the artwork hangs in our family room. It is a moment frozen in time that delights me every time I look at it.

One of my favorite Christmas card shots.

In later years I was better off with no parents around during the photo shoot. But if you think that getting a good shot of them would be easier because they’re not toddlers, you would be wrong. Two twelve year olds, a ten year old, a nine year old and then our seven year old form a group of independent minded souls.

Last year I got a random shot at Boyne Mountain with them wearing whatever they had on at the time. The photo of them sitting on rocks with the sunshine behind them turned out glorious. It was a lucky shot.

Casual Boyne Mountain photo shoot in 2013.

This year, Labor Day weekend, clothes were coordinated by our oldest granddaughter Adrianna. We all piled into the golf cart with a few ideas in mind, but the spring was our primary destination. Instead of dictating what they should do, I made a few suggestions and they came up with ideas. Here’s where the trouble started. So and so didn’t want to stand by her brother. Well, she has two brothers so that made it hard. Then there was the goofiness. Trying to get them to stand up straight I said, “Look up.” I couldn't see that clearly through my viewfinder so got the shot below.

Goofy Adrianna is looking up.

“Let’s take a picture on the rocks,” one of them says. Problem is there are four rocks and five people. Again, “I don’t want to stand next to my brother.” But in the end, out of sixty plus pictures snapped, there are two I can use. I thought that maybe I would try another day, but then discarded that idea.

Avery can't find a rock to stand on.

There will come a time when they won’t want me to take their picture. I will then miss the struggle for one good shot. I will miss the laughs and the pouting and the goofiness of their poses. Meanwhile I wonder what they will wear next year and how tall they will be. The Christmas picture is a running timeline of where they are and where they have been. I will continue as long as they let me, which leads to my overused line every year. “Children, please cooperate.” But then I’m not sure I would know how to act if they did completely.   

The fun of taking photos is shown through Adrianna balancing on the log.  She says she likes me taking her picture because I make her look beautiful. She doesn't need a photo to show that though.