Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Smile for the Birdie!



Ah, Thanksgiving!  That time of year when families travel from near and far to get together to eat too much, shop too much, act like fools, and make wonderful memories.


 In our family, my brother's family and our family have taken turns for years getting together to spend the long weekend together.  We've had certain "traditions" that we've followed over the Thanksgiving holiday which I'll share with you in the next few posts but one of the most sacrosanct has been posing for family pictures.


At some point in the weekend, we all get into our festive outfits and gather in one central location, set up the cameras on the tripods, and then the fun begins.


We take many different combinations of pictures.....photos of each family, photos of just the kids, photos of the adult siblings, and photos of the siblings with our mom.


These photo sessions can drag on  and on, sometimes erupting into gales of laughter and other times deteriorating into testiness.


The one thing that they all have in common, though, is that they are snapshots of times in our lives that will never come again.  Despite the dorkiness of them or their perfection, they will always remind us of the special joy we have shared as family.


They are treasures that I enjoy looking at every year.


Perhaps my all-time favorite is this picture that was taken the Thanksgiving immediately after I had finished my 6 months of chemotherapy after a diagnosis of breast cancer.  The joy reflected on our faces is so evident.  We were a family united together, alive,  and life was good.  It still is!  May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week (or have HAD one - for my Canadian friends).

1 comment:

Karyn said...

What a treasure!

Must be fun to look at these and see the changes in everyone from year to year.