Babys First Year Blog
Wait, that is NOT Your Baby.
Mom...who's that?
Several people have admired the pewter tree on my mantle with its tiny leaf frames. Inside each frame is an adorable photo of an aunt, an uncle, the family dog, grandparents, siblings and parents. I honestly get compliments on it all the time. “What a great family! What a great frame! What a great idea!” I also have three frame ornaments on my tree, one holds a photo of baby’s first Christmas in 2004, baby’s first Halloween and baby’s first Christmas in 2011. Chubby little babies in costumes and holiday trimmings framed in Hallmark glory and hung on pine.
The only problem?
Not a single one of the photos is someone I’m actually related to.
Let alone a child I’ve birthed.
I am guilty of having a picture frame family. My house is full of stock images of overtly happy families, smiling at me in all their sunny perfection.
This is the week that is all going to change. ALL OF IT. I have been downloading photos off facebook of my REAL aunts, uncles, sister, nieces, nephews and parents. They aren’t always perfect and happy, but they are my family. And my Christmas tree? It will house photos of my ACTUAL children. On their first Christmases and Halloween. How is this all going to happen?
Tomorrow I will be printing them off, cutting them down to size and filling my home with MY family, not stock images of paid actors put together to sell frames and dreams. Did you ever see the movie “The Switch?” Where the little kid collects picture frames but never takes out the stock photo in hopes that one day he will be a part of a real happy family? That’s not going to be my kids, because they are a part of a real happy family.
Time for another insane admission.
Vivi turns 7 months old on Sunday.
We have ONE photo of all four of us, taken at Addie’s school on Grandparents Day. There is only one copy and I am wearing sweatpants.
This too must change.
Am I the only one with no family photos and strangers in their frames?
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Many thanks to Canon for sponsoring this post and for providing me with a brand new shiny PIXMA printer to print out my real family with.
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19 Comments
emily commented on Nov 28 11 at 10:20 pmI often wondered when you were going to get around to fixing the tree frame. I mean, it is a good looking tree frame…
Sarah @ TM2TS commented on Nov 28 11 at 10:33 pmI don’t have strangers in frames, minus the ones not even out BUT I do not have a really recent family picture that wasn’t taken with a cellphone. Most recent? My son was TWO? He’s six now :O
Roni commented on Nov 28 11 at 10:37 pmWe have 2 ornaments with the stock images in them on the tree. It’s become a family joke at this point. I can’t replace them!
Mrs. Commoner commented on Nov 28 11 at 10:59 pmWe only have one photo of the four of us. It’s from 3 years ago, when the “baby” was 6 months old. And, though I don’t have a picture frame family, most of the framed photos in the house are prior to the arrival of the “baby”. Must fix this.
Adri commented on Nov 28 11 at 11:03 pmWe’ve NEVER had a family photo taken. So sad.
Rachel - A Southern Fairytale commented on Nov 28 11 at 11:19 pmpictures of the family with me in them? what is this thing you speak of?
Meagan commented on Nov 29 11 at 12:01 amThat is freaking hilarious. We have various photos floating around, waiting for frames, or worse, IN frames, waiting to be hung. It never occurred to me that someone would have the opposite problem!
CaySedai commented on Nov 29 11 at 12:42 amI don’t have the picture frame family, but I do have a sad confession. I have never been in a family portrait with my children, and they are 18 and 15. In fact, I actually scheduled an appointment last week and had to cancel, as they would not participate. My 18-year-old is shy and hardly goes anywhere, and my 15-year-old didn’t see the point of a family portrait since she and her sister had portraits done at that studio once already. (They were probably 3 and 6 at the time and it was just them, not their dad or me.)
Michelle commented on Nov 29 11 at 6:39 amI don’t have frames with actors in them, but I do have one frame in my “Hall of Fame” (photos in the passage) with NO photo in it, because my sister-in-law didn’t like that photo of herself and took it out!
I also don’t have any recent pics of any of us. Must remedy that this year…..
Ami commented on Nov 29 11 at 9:13 amYou’ve heard that saying “The cobbler’s wife always goes barefoot?” In your case it’s the photographer’s family never has a family portrait.
domestic extraordinaire commented on Nov 29 11 at 10:10 amThankfully we don’t have stock families in our frames, but I reuse a lot of frames, so most of them have the girls when they were much younger. I am guilty of not having lots of photos of them up, I am trying to get better about it and not try to put up the perfect photos but the ones that speak to me the most.
Jessica V. commented on Nov 29 11 at 10:14 am*ahem* yes, guilty! And I only have TWO photos of the four of us together and they were taken when my 1 year old was first born. I need to change that as well.
molly commented on Nov 29 11 at 10:30 amHmmmm, well, not exactly. We just don’t have any pictures up at all. It’s a travesty really considering all the money we’ve paid to have family portraits taken. I’m trying to remedy this but I’m having trouble figuring out where to put things in our new house. I’m a decor-commitment phobe.
Barb @ getupandplay commented on Nov 29 11 at 11:46 amIt’s like the adage the shoemaker’s kids are always barefoot- there are never pictures of the photographer’s family!
Stephanie M commented on Nov 29 11 at 12:45 pmI’ve got a collage frame that has been hanging on my wall for almost two years now…with the stock photos.
Jamie (@chosenchaos) commented on Nov 29 11 at 2:10 pmMy mom has a family ornament of strangers. It’s been around since 2004 and now it’s just become a joke. She’ll never change it at this point!
Colleen - @amadisonmom commented on Nov 29 11 at 8:19 pmI’m afraid filling frames and having family portraits done is a slight obsession of mine. Ok… not slight. Total. I may be the polar opposite of you when it comes to the framing. And I’ve driven my husband insane by dragging him to the portrait studio once a year for a family portrait. And just last week… I set the camera on a tripod and attempted to get all 4 of us by using the 12 second timer. It didn’t end with very pretty results… but there is proof all 4 of us were sitting on the same couch at least once this season!
Kate Rawlins commented on Nov 30 11 at 1:28 amI have those faux photos too – some I even borrow from calendars. Sometimes, I cover up the black & whites, w/beautiful color landscapes. If asked I will tell the truth – it’s a calendar photo, but only if I’m asked! I’m on my 2nd Pixma and love it.
Hyman commented on Dec 13 11 at 8:59 amI am guilty of having no pictures in frames … Not even a photo album! But guess what? I’m obsessed with taking pictures. I always ask everyone and their mother to take pics of us, especially of my husband and I with our baby … I even took baby to get pro pics done …
Guess what? I have a problem when it comes to framing and albums. I don’t know what it is. I have all these great photos, even of our wedding in 09 but nobody would ever know :D lol.
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