Our Holiday Calendar Tortures Me

Each year I make a holiday calendar. It's one of those wonderful traditions that tortures you in each and every way until it's done. Then it brings smiles and laughter for years to come.

The torture begins with the price, kind of like party invitations. You can't just give the calendar to ONE family member, and it doesn't really matter that they cost $10-30 a pop, it's all for one and one for all. It's not only the COST that tortures me, it's also taking the photos that go into the calendar and finding time to upload them and assemble the thing...

I originally made it for my mother, but the list of recipients quickly grew. Obviously, all of my mother's sisters need a calendar. Then this means my father's sisters ALL definitely must receive one as well. To add to the list, I am lucky to have a family with the gift of remarkable genetic longevity--and so does my husband! This means each of us also have great grandmothers, great aunts, cousins who feel like aunts and also need a calendar. Well, before it's all done with, I have to order like 40 or more people. So there's the HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS I pay to send this thing out.

The other big hurdle is getting my angelic little angelic boys to pose for the photograph I put on the cover of the calendar. Ever tried to get a rowdy 4 year old, touchy 7 year-old, and 3 month old to sit quietly, smile like normal humans, and leave their hats alone for three  seconds? I sincerely hope not--because it's unduly stressful. I inevitably end up yelling things like "SMILE PLEASE. Sit still and look NORMAL. NOW. Don't you understand we're taking HAPPY HOLIDAY PHOTOGRAPHS HERE??!!"

Then there's the meticulous, time-consuming task of editing to be sure all birthdays are correct, all new anniversaries and heavenly babies have been included...Last year I was so attentive to the birthdays and anniversaries inside that I didn't notice the cover read "Our Family 1007" (and it should have read "Our Family 2008"). So amusing.

BUT I continue to put myself through this torture each year. And there are good reasons for that! My mother gets to show off her grandsons who live across the country--it may be in calendar form, not in person, but at least this gives her a daily peek at her little guys. My great aunts take this calendar everywhere--I'm talking to the market, the beauty shop, you name it. My great grandmother cries each year from joy when she receives it. And I...when my boys are grown, I get to brag that I was such a good mother, such a loving family woman, that I made a calendar of them each and every year to show the family how much they'd grown.

Now, off to make that $#%@ calendar:)

This is an original post to Los Angeles Moms Blog.

Eva shares funny child stories and quotes at Words of a Child, and contributes to Husband Clothes, a blog about marriage humor.