Froggy Claus

These are my sad attempts of getting a holiday photo. It was an impossible task. Putting the hat on Froggy, who by the way, HATES HATS, was not easy. Plus, I was relying on a 15-month-old to sit still for 2 seconds, and of course the annoying delay on a digital camera didn't help.

She's actually a great ham, who poses for the camera with big smiles, but I was unable to capture it. I must say, I like the silly imperfect pictures much better than the posed ones.

This reminds me of a picture of my sister and I when we were kids. My mom wanted the "perfect" shot by the capitol building in Des Moines. We were wearing matching outfits -- striped one-pieces, with elastic around the torso, and the kind that crept up (you know where) all day. We were constantly reaching and pulling fabric out of our butts, and in the words of my father, it wasn't very "lady-like".

The sun was in our eyes, reflecting off the river. It was hot, humid, mosquitos were out for evolutionary vengence, and we were not happy campers. Mom kept saying, "Open your eyes," and we replied "but the sun hurts MOM!"

It was torture and it's quite evident in the pictures. We were squinty, angry, sweaty girls, looking at the camera like, "someone better call Social Services, because this has to be child abuse! Can't we just get our ice cream and go home!"

I realize now that a few seconds of being uncomfortable might have been worth the great pictures that would be admired for generations. But it felt fake to us. Who cares about posed pictures with a great background and a river reflecting the capitol building. It sounds good in theory, but when my kids or grandkids look at it, they'll probably say "boring". The pics my offspring will enjoy are the ones with me eating toilet paper as a babe, my black-eye pose - after falling down the stairs, the shot where I took a nap on our black lab, Mandy; or the pic of my sis and I at the farm in our overalls (matching of course) picking mulberries in the old feed bin.

I love the pictures that are literally a "snapshot" of life. Because they catch our personality when we aren't expecting it. Nothing is hidden, and the person captured doesn't have time to worry about their lipstick status, or static hair. Those are the ones that matter, the ones that truly reflect who we are as people.

These pictures say, "Froggy hates hats!" And I love that.