The Perfect Picture

It's the holiday season and with it, of course, comes the annual family photo. When you have three small children, this is something that takes careful planning , lots of work and a whole lot of luck. I chose a color scheme that worked with out wardrobes, we talked about the setting and the timing. You know the usual things. When the day came, I spent hours ironing clothes and curling hair. I made sure the children napped and were fed. I did everything right. But still, we had that two-year-old.
It seems like we've had a two-year-old in our house for as long as I can remember. It's not true really. I realize it's only been 3 years. But when you count the pre-2-year-old and the post-2-year-old and the fact that they were back to back to back, you get a whole lot of 2. The thing I have learned about 2 is that they really really don't like to cooperate during photoshoots. I thought this might be the year we moved past all that, but I was sorely mistaken.
Fast forward to a few weeks later when we finally got the pictures back. There were the adorable pictures of 2 smiling boys who were pros at this, and then the very small window of time in which the 2-year-old allowed her picture to be taken with a coy smirk. And then, there were the family pictures when Olivia had completely had enough.
Our wonderful photographer had given us several different shots to choose from, and then she added this little gem. I thought it curious that she would include this, as it seemed to me to be a crazy mess. Olivia had been very upset and so I started to quietly sing her favorite Little Mermaid Song to her. The boys and their dad started singing along and by the end, we were all belting out this ballad to try and make her crack.
                                      
And it was at this moment, that she decided to snap a picture of it all. No one was looking at the camera, it was not the perfect family picture I wanted to hang in my livingroom, but as I looked closer, I began to see what she saw in it. This is a picture of a moment of pure family love captured. There is warmth, there is honesty there is a real genuineness to it. This is us. It's not the subdued, statuesque family who obediently smile at the camera, it's who WE are. I have grown to really love this family picture. Sure, it's probably not the one I will put on our Christmas card, but it's the one I will treasure in my heart because this is where we are in our lives, and who we were and when I am old and gray, I can look back on this crazy mess of a picture and smile fondly at all the little personalities that were represented and the love that is so obviously displayed.
As I think back to all the photo shoots over the years, there is probably at least one of these moments in every family photoshoot we've had. The kind of moments I saw as throwaways that I'm now looking at in a totally new way. I'd like to share with you some of the REAL Warkentin moments captured in hopes that it might challenge you to enjoy the "throw aways" a little more and, who knows, maybe even put them on your christmas card this year!

  
    

                            Happy Holidays from the Warkentins