We decorated the tree finally this week. Meant to do it on Thanksgiving weekend, but it took longer to get to it this time around.
It's so sweet and special to hear the kids go through the ornaments and remember. Many are handmade by them. I did bring out the camera and ask them to pose a few times as they decorated.
And then my particularly sharp tongued child said, "Mom, you ruin everything." I'm sure she was speaking of ruining the moment with the camera. This was pretty crushing...who wants to be a ruiner? How often do we seem like this trying to capture special moments? How can we not ruin, yet still capture?
After we finished, we turned off the lights to admire our work and ooh and ahh over the beauty. One kid suggested we dance. I guess I was dancing when I took this shot, too.
Rockin' around the Christmas tree never felt so good, even for this ruiner of fun.
Seeing as how this is a super fun capture, fun must not have been ruined for long! Your story makes me think of "The Middle" Christmas episode last night. The kids should see it - maybe they would understand the whole photo taking thing! This is a big fav for me!
You are ahead of me! Looks like the lights are colorful keys! Our son is coming home this weekend and we hope to go and choose our tree then... going together as a family to pick our Christmas tree is one of our few traditions.
Wonderful movement and title! I love it very much, Amanda. My dad took so many photos of us (back when he had to pay for film development), and I hated it. Now I cherish each old photo. I'm so thankful he did what he did, and so sorry I felt negative about it at the time. I'm sure your children will love the documentation of their childhood as well, some day. Especially because your photos are so thoughtful, fun and unusual, not the standard stand stiffly and say cheese.
you don't ask them to pose, you just snap whatever your camera sees, blurry or not. they think now you're ruining everything, they will appreciate it when they're older, especially when they're away at school or have their own families.
you should tell your children that in the third world children loved to ham it up for the camera even though they wouldn't see a print of it, or rarely ever. we take for granted what we have not thinking that in other parts of the world it's a scarcety. the kids grow up not remembering how they looked when they were younger.
Don't beat yourself up. All kids accuse parents of ruining everything. That will increase as they test the boundaries of independent living. You'll get through it as will they. Love that blurred image. Continue having fun.
I thought that was just part of all children's vocabulary. At least they'll grow out of it. Then there are my family members -- all adults -- who convey that when they say 'put the thing away, will you?'!
Super effect, very cool. My daughter is coming home at the weekend so we can go on our annual trip to the Christmas Tree Farm to chose our tree, have it felled then bring it home to decorate. :) Sadly my son can't make it as he has work commitments :(
you should tell your children that in the third world children loved to ham it up for the camera even though they wouldn't see a print of it, or rarely ever. we take for granted what we have not thinking that in other parts of the world it's a scarcety. the kids grow up not remembering how they looked when they were younger.