Christmas Traditions Continue

Christmas Eve, December 24, 2024 - Janis Moore's birthday and the extended Moore family Christmas dinner

The group photos at the Moore family birthday/Christmas gathering have gotten progressively easier to accomplish. Even though the photo expanded by another person this year to 34, we all perform on command and look at the camera.

The same could not be said of the great-grand photo with Birthday Girl Janis Moore back in 2017:

It was marginally better in 2018, when the last of the current great-grands was added:

These days, it takes considerably less time to capture the moment:

Look at that: Everybody looking the same direction and smiling!

The rest of us are pretty good at it, too. I guess we get it by example.

With 34 people, we need a couple of birthday cakes to celebrate Janis Moore's Christmas Eve birthday. This year, it was her 89th! Besides the cakes, I also made three kinds of homemade ice cream, another birthday tradition for our family.

 The "kids"

The grandkids

And the "outlaws"

Here is Exhibit A as to why the meal has been moved to the "good" shed. This is my mom opening her birthday gifts in the family room, the largest room in my parents' house. And this isn't everybody. I couldn't get the whole crowd in one shot. We probably should move the noon meal to the shed, too, but that would interfere with the basketball court.

 

As with most families, our combination birthday/Christmas celebration has its share of traditions.

There are often some shots by my dad's 1952 restored pickup.

But we have some at our house, too, where the grandfather clock - an heirloom from Randy's family - is often the backdrop for holiday shots.

Our own family Christmas began with a great cat escape. One of Randy's "tame" cats didn't particularly care for the influx of visitors. It scratched multiple people as it escaped to hide. For those of you who know me well, you can imagine how thrilled I was that the cat was MIA.

However, the cat was successfully recaptured after an unplanned interlude of "hide and seek."

There are plenty of other traditions. I am known for my snack mixes. But the Ladd family just gets better and better at the yearly sugar cookie decorating they do at home and share with the rest of us. I've told them that I need lessons.

It's also part of our family tradition to play games. Susan brought a new family bingo game this year. We have our annual Left, Right, Center tournament, also compliments of Brent and Susan. We had a surprise winner for a new music game called Hitster.

Every year, we add the girls' height to the same measuring stick that their mom and Uncle Brent used.

For the record, Kinley pretty much mirrors her mother's growth patterns.

At this point, Brooke is outpacing them both.

The only problem with holidays? They fly by too quickly, leaving behind only the colored lights and empty tree.

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas, too. 

The front of our 2024 Christmas card - taken at a family wedding in June 2024

Today, we're hoping for a K-State Wildcat victory over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the Rate Bowl! Go 'Cats!

Ho! Ho! Holiday!

I know that Christmas card letters have their share of detractors. But, I love getting cards and letters from people at this time of year. I'd much rather have a mass-produced letter than simply a signature, though it's great when people include a handwritten note, too.

Several years ago, I transitioned from a full letter to a summary on the back of the card. It was quite a leap for me. I am not necessarily a believer in the old adage, "A picture is worth a thousand words." I'm glad to give you the 1,000 words ... and multiple photos. (My niece, Paige, wins best Christmas card letter so far this year. I told her that I literally laughed out loud.)

Even in this electronic communication age, I send quite a few Christmas cards. It's been a way for me to keep in touch with childhood friends and college buddies, along with sending greetings to family members across the U.S. and seasoning's greetings to neighbors. 

For us, the photo Christmas card is a family tradition. I starred in my very first one in 1957, as a 6-month-old baby.

By the time 1958 rolled around, I was already sharing space with my sister, Lisa, on the annual missive from Bob and Janis.

Though my brother, Kent, was born in December 1966, he didn't make the Christmas card until 1967. This is the first photo card with all my siblings. I would have been 10, Lisa, 9, Darci, 6 and Kent was 1.

My parents included their children on the family Christmas card until we graduated from college. Since then, we make occasional appearances on their card.

 Randy and I sent our first photo card in 1981, the year we were married.

 Then, we didn't send another one until 1985, the year that Jill was born.

Christmas Card Photo - Jill - 1985

We sent one with the three of us in 1986, when Jill was 15 months old. After that, I usually stayed on the other side of the camera and just included the kids. (When you're the one doing the work, you get the most votes.)

Christmas Card Photo - 1986

The first one with Brent was in 1988. Brent would have been about 7 months and Jill was 3.

Christmas Card Photo - 1988

Before the advent of digital photography, I developed rolls of film trying to come up with the perfect photo.

Kinley made her first Christmas card appearance in 2012.

In 2014, when Brooke joined the family, I featured outtakes on the blog, showing my attempts to get a decent Christmas card photo with two little girls. I guess I had amnesia regarding the number of photos you take to get one photo that's Christmas card worthy. But it all came back to me.

 

At least it's digital now and you can delete them off the memory card at will. In 2014, Kinley, almost 3, was at that cheesy fake smile stage unless you captured her in action.

Brooke, at 3 months old, would smile, but it was more fleeting than the camera shutter could record.

 

There's a reason I'm not a professional photographer. I can usually capture a pretty sunset, but portraiture is another thing all together.

I think this is what we ended up with.

They are considerably easier to photograph these days. (And so far, I've avoided any pre-teen eye rolls on the number of photos I NEED to take.)

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! 

Holiday Traditions

You don't have to be famous to have a stable of paparazzi clicking away trying to capture the perfect shot. 

My mom's birthday and our family's Christmas Eve gathering have a good share of "Smile!" "Look this way!" and "Wait! Just one more!"

This was the first year since 2019 that all 32 of us were together. Covid canceled the whole affair in 2020. My family was absent last year, also due to Covid. So it was even sweeter to be together this year. 

My mom celebrated her 87th birthday on December 24.  Ever since the grandchildren were little, we've been taking a photo of the birthday girl with the troops.The first one with all seven of the grandchildren was in 1994.

From left: Abby, Brian, Blake, Mom holding Madison, Jill, Brent & Paige

The grandchildren shot is easier these days. They can even look the same direction. 

Now, my parents' 10 great-grandchildren are the little kids in the Christmas/birthday photos. But that gets easier every year, too.

December 24, 2022: Front row: Pratt, Mom, Dad, Clara and Cole. Back row: Benson, Holte, Braden, Neelly, Beau, Brooke & Kinley

 

Here was the 2017 version of the great-grandchild shot. See? I told you it was easier these days.

A few years ago, someone suggested an "outlaw" photo. So they got in on the photos this year, too. 

This was the entire gathering - minus my niece, Madison, who took the photo. 

Several years ago, we moved the evening meal to the shed to accommodate the crowd. I'm thankful to my brother and his wife, Kent & Suzanne, for the work they do to make it possible. 

It was good to be together.

We had our immediate family Christmas on Friday. The Ladds came a day earlier than expected to avoid the worst of the weather. While Jill and Eric worked remotely on Thursday, we still found some things to do. 

The girls also helped me make our traditional Oreo Cheesecake for our Christmas dessert, but I missed getting photos of that. 

It was a very Merry Christmas!