Family photos

I was born into a family of shutterbugs, and I am - unashamedly - a big one myself.  Having a new baby in the family has really not helped our tendencies to snap photos pretty much constantly.  And, of course, since Elvis and I are so proud of our handsome, strapping son, we have a TON of beautiful, posed photos of the three of us.  But my favorite family photos are the ones where everyone's being ... well ... themselves.  For example, a few years ago for Thanksgiving my entire family rented a bed and breakfast for a weekend.  One day was designated as picture day, and we all donned our similar outfits and posed for picture after picture after picture in front of the B&B.  And, even though my entire family is exceedingly good-looking, the pics are all kinda boring.  It's nice to see everyone together, enjoying themselves, but that's not us.  We're just not stiff, smile-for-the-camera folk.  So my 2 favorite pictures of the day are as follows:

This is my mom and her sister.  They've always been a little odd.

and

My parents, brother, and husband all thought it would be funny to tell me to face a different direction for our family photo.  Ha ha, silly Sarah.

So, back to my point.  On Christmas Eve, at my parents' house, Santa Claus himself made a surprise visit to see little Henry, and was nice enough to stick around for some pictures.  We got about a dozen of all the aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc. but my favorite by far is this one.  As we were all settling into yet another politely smiling photo, I shouted "Everyone pretend you're biting the baby!"  And this hilarious pic was born.  I guess, to be technical, Santa is punching my dad in lieu of biting my son, but I think the point still gets across.  We're not formal or forced, and if we all look a bit ridiculous, well ... have you met us?