Tis the Season

Ah, Christmas card time... I love getting cards in the mail and seeing the cute pictures that accompany the holiday greetings. A few Christmases ago (probably our first married Christmas), we began to get cards in the mail. I had no idea that Jason felt so strongly on the matter of Christmas card pictures. I commented on how cute the children in the card were. To which my sweet husband replied, "I don't understand why they signed the card Jim, Mary, Grace, and Ella (names changed for the sake of privacy:)) when Jim and Mary aren't even in the picture. If they were going to put a picture of just the kids, it should be from just the kids." Good grief - who would have thought Christmas cards would have stirred a reaction. I have often discussed this with friends who have said that they didn't put themselves on a card because they felt fat, frumpy, etc. Well, I am right there with these friends this year. However, my 20 pound weight gain did not appear overnight, and I can't even blame my increased size on pregnancy because I am officially back to pre-pregnancy weight. But, chances are that anyone who gets a card from us will have seen me in the past year. It's not like my family, who saw me a few months ago when I visited GA, are going to say upon seeing the card, "Man, Akisha's ass blew up last month." No, they already knew. I figure if I put the bigger version of me on the card, it will be even more motivation to get skinny for next year's card. hehe... So, throw caution, embarrassment, or whatever you want to call it to the wind and send out that family picture. We all want to see happy, smiling families of the whole family on the card (or at least Jason does).