Christmas cards.....

Here's a sneak peek at our Christmas card photo shoot this year. They were done at Grand Beach(the lake house) by a local photographer.....Matt Thomas. I know I AM a RICHARD worrying about the Christmas card picture in May. Ryan wondered about my obsession at first but then he experienced two things this past year that helped him to understand where I am coming from.......

First, last July Ryan and Julie (the in laws:)!) experienced the first Ron Stewart photos....the same guy that has been taking our family Christmas card every other year since we were tiny. It is an experience to say the least, but my dad beamed with pride because his photographer came out of retirement just as he had his first grandson. Truth be told the photos did turn out pretty good and we had a Christmas card moment to remember for all members of the family.

Second, last Christmas my Uncle Brad pulled out a stack of papers on Christmas day and passed them around to the grand kids. We each took turns reading carefully thought out Christmas letters delicately written each year by my Grandma, Norma Richard, since her and Grandpa's first child was born. She was dedicated to the Christmas letter cause and not only was she a wonderful author but the letters also pay tribute to the history of the times they went through as a growing mid west family. It was really neat to hear history unfold both personally for my dad's family and also historically. A little scary too as I could almost hear her as a young mother writing those letters, and now her baby's are grown and have grown baby's of their own. One of my favorite snippets from one of those letters talked about Christmas shopping for the boys (she had 3.....) and longingly looking at the doll isle. A letter or two after that she was shopping for a girl when her only daughter Connie was born. I could relate as I bought Griffin's birthday presents this year.....but know she cherished each dirty, rough house, boy moment....as do I!

My motivation for getting pictures taken right now is because I wanted to capture Griffin at one year old, and I LOVE photos. But I would also like to think that my devotion for the "Christmas card" is because a little piece of my sweet Grandma is in my dad and that part got passed down to me.....so that I can keep recording history as the years fly by.....almost as quick as they seemed to while we were reading those old letters.