"IT'S NOW OR NEVER!"

I informed the caretakers of my wee actors. "If I can't get a photo tonight to send out with Christmas cards, I'll have to give up the tradition!"

To be honest, Reader Dear, I started the whole endeavor in my typical wait-until-relaxation-and-pleasant-enjoyment-and-creativity-and-tweaking-of-results-are-no-longer-possible mode! We were well into December before picture procurement lit up the part of my brain that actually follows through on things!

Lots of photos were taken in the handful of times the five of us--Yard Man, Little Actor, Small Actor, Tiny Actor and myself--were together.   Twenty-two snaps of the camera on the first try.  Ah, but it was relatively late in the evening for those little guys.  They were tired.  They were busy playing.  One of those three in particular was very opposed to the whole idea!  It didn't go well.


A week went by before we were together again, this time at a restaurant.  "Well, look here!" I crowed.  "There's this nice scene painted on the wall!  It'll look as though my actors and I were shooting a movie in Italy!"

But, dear me, we had no lighting crew.  It was dark in that part of the restaurant.  The actors were not thrilled to be in Italy; they were busy eating American pizza! And, furthermore, we still had one holdout for NO PICTURES!

(I'm not saying who.)









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So, now, once again we were all together, and it was verging on too late! The Yard Man and I already had on display a whole slew of cards we'd received from folks who seldom find themselves scrambling (and I'm not talking eggs here)!

By now I had dropped my expectations severely.  Hard enough to get a shot where five of us were smiling into the camera with Christmas cheer ("You don't want any of these!" said the photographing daughter after snapping at least a dozen shots), I decided I would be happy with one good shot of just the little guys.  My only stipulations were that all three actors had to be in the picture, and all three had to be looking into the camera.

I sat with camera in hand and encouraged and cajoled and bribed and snapped photos with each and every fleeting possibility of meeting my goal.

Sigh.
A Very Merry Christmas to you, Viewer Dear!
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