The Pretty Girl

“Am I pretty?” she asked as she stared into the full-length closet mirror. A box of clothes waiting to be unpacked or shipped off to Goodwill, another bit of clutter from her childhood, dominated the closet. Later, she will fall asleep on the shirts and pants they have all outgrown. 

the seven emotional stages of christmas card picture taking aka why the hell are we doing this again?

It is that time again--the time when I attempt to capture all four of my children looking happy and festive, coordinated and cordial--it is time for the annual taking of the Christmas card picture. The three most frequent questions I get when I tell people this are: 

1. Do you have someone take the photos? 
No, I answer which leads to the second question...