McDermott Christmas extravaganza 2009-12-28
Do you have one of those people in your family who are notoriously bad gift givers? I mean…the good intention is there I guess…but they can just never seem to get it right? Well…I have been lucky enough to live with the worst gift giver on the planet for the last 11 years…and I know it sounds terrible like I am ungreatful…but seriously…year after year..holiday after holiday it was one bad gift after another…even his family comments on it….
for example one year I got a shirt…embroidered mind you…that read ” this is what a cool mom looks like” hey…for future reference I told him that cool moms don’t wear shirts that say stuff like that…and let’s not forget about the size 24W nightshirt with Tweety Bird on it that said “Lucky Chic” I was more mad that he actually thought that was my size than the lucky chic part
and then there was one year I got a shirt that said “stinky Butt” seriously?? what is that…then a couple years ago I got not one BUT TWO silk shirts (picture circa 1989) with sleeves that rolled up in both teal and coral (think Miami Vice) personalized with SjMacky photography…
Finally I told him…STOP BUYING ME STUFF…ESPECIALLY PERSONALIZED STUFF…because it isn’t cheap ya know and I def. wasn’t going to wear it…We honestly haven’t even exchanged gifts for the last few years because…well…I just really didn’t need anything…yes that’s it….
so this year rolls around and my friends kept telling me “I know what your Christmas presents are” and I knew it had to be something bad the way they were saying it.
then I was made to sit down by myself while Jodi carefully captured each agonizing second…because everyone KNEW what was in the box but me….here’s pretty much a condensed version of how it went down…
Jo took this about two seconds after I looked in the box…this is me looking at Bryan like “What the @#$% is this??”
classic…love how the look on my face tells EXACTLY what I am thinking right at this moment
so after it was explained that this was a gag gift I started to feel a little bit better, but I’ll admit it..for about 10 minutes I was the biggest Christmas Scrooge on the face of the earth…I was so ticked that he thought this is something that was “ok” to do…like it was ok to put a hooiser naked trucker chic right above my company name …I told him these will NEVER be worn out it public…but it DID give me a super cute idea that I will blog about later…
sorry blog stalkers…the shirts ARE NOT FOR SALE…lol
me trying to “rock the shirt”…lmao
Christmas eve my sis and her fam came over along with my mom and dad…I cherish this pic of Brady and my dad..My dad has been in a lot of bands over the years and it was fun to see him show Brady how to play the guitar…One thing I will say that I got from my dad is I much prefer taking candids of my family than posed ones where everyone is looking because then when I go back and look at the images I remember exactly how I felt at that moment…When I was a kid I used to get so mad that there were all these pictures he took where no one was looking and somehow I always ended up looking like a kid with special needs…but I appreciate them so much now! I bet my dad would make an awesome wedding photographer! Maybe I should bring him out with me sometime…lol
glad Jodi took the time to wrangle up all the kids and get this pic…they are all getting so old and it’s a rarity to have a picture where they are all looking in the same direction!
and Bryan took this of us and I cannot remember the last time all four of us had our picture taken together…maybe 11 years ago when I got married…not sure…which is funny because my sister, dad and me ALWAYS have a camera on us….anyways I am really glad we snapped this real quick even though it’s cheesy and posed…lol
Bryan was up till 5 wrapping gifts…and I am thanful for that because I literally did not wrap ONE gift this year (mostly because he wouldn’t let me though…lol) notice he’s still sportin his new fav shirt..lol
if you read the post before this you know why I took this picture…a tape bracelet…seriously…there is no sport of “present wrapping”…this just cracks me up
this was probably my favorite thing about this Christmas…this card…I will treasure it always because it makes me laugh everytime I look at it…awhile ago my friend tina found like 10 years worth of old “school pictures” that I had left in my classroom when she moved into it…so as a joke she cut them up and hid them ALL over the house…this was a year ago and I will still open drawers or containers and find pictures of myself…anyways this is a pic bry found and he cut it to make me into the elf…I LOVE when people do stuff like this…especially him because it MEANS something…
this was the inside and it talks of me opening my presents first….I just love how much thought he put into this card and my gifts…it took 11 years…but by golly I just may have broken the man…lol
and since we all know that Bry is a huge fan of the “personalization” of gifts…he felt the need to also get me a Northface Vest with my company name on it…ya know “for all those shoots I do when it’s freezing outside”…lol which is hardly at all…but we won’t tell him that.
and what vest/jacket isn’t complete without a matching SjMacky scarf…lol
I am truly blessed to have such a thoughtful person in my life…he really does have good intentions I guess…lol and what’s really funny is that for like the first 8 years we were married I didn’t like him much…funny how things have a way of working out 
my guys… notice he loved his new shirt sooooo much that it is STILL on the next morning…lol and Lyvi made sure to coordinate her and Brady’s outfits “ya know mom…for the pictures” lol what I have I done to my children????
It’s hard to get candids of Lyv because she is always hamming it up
Brady cracked up that Santa wrapped his monster trucks in a root beer box…
what the heck is this face all about?
we played a mean trick on Lyv this year and wrapped up just a bunch of little stupid stuff and hid the one thing we knew she really wanted…I was kind of interested in seeing her reaction to all the silly little presents and she handled it like a champ…like she was excited with what she got and didn’t seem bummed out at ALL that the ONE thing she asked for wasn’t there. SO after cleaning up all the wrapping paper and stuff while wrapping more gifts to take to Lola’s…she discovered that there was one more gift unopened in the dining room….
can you tell she loved it?? It’s a laptop….I will probably regret getting her that shortly…lol
every year after opening gifts at our house we head over to Bryan’s gma’s house…aka “Lola” Lola is old school from the phillipenes..she is one of those ladies that says exactly what’s on her mind…if it looks like you’ve been enjoying one too many holiday treats…she’ll let you know…lol Every year she likes to pile the great grandkids up for a picture and it is always very chatoic and bad…I normally don’t take pics of it…but I was on the sidelines this year documenting what really happens…love the choke hold Lola has on Colin and that no one is really paying attention yet there’s like 6 different cameras going off…classic…
this one’s a little more like what lola wants…but not near as funny in my opinion
I love going to Lola’s because there are so many people there and the house is filled with so much joy and laughter…she really needs more seating though because the family just keeps getting bigger. I also love it because of all the…
interesting characters…
btw he’s single ladies…lol and that IS a wig he’s got on…pretty funny but that’s just how Bry’s side of the family rolls…
a little music…
and lots of good converstation…
These next few images were taken by my 10 year old daughter and I think they are pretty dang good…maybe sjmacky photography will be around much longer than I anticipated…This is Dylan and he only smiles for Lyvi…He yells at me “NO!” when I try to take his pic…even when I am being sneaky…it’s pretty funny
classic uncle Greg being his old crabby self (taken by Lyvi)
Uncle Jim….who has a remarkable resemblance to the Gordman’s Fisherman I think (taken by Lyvi)
here she discovers if she stands in front of a mirror (which by the way she is a PRO at) she can take a pic of herself…there were about 10 more similar to this but in the interest of time I will only torture you with 2 of them!
I love it when AUnt Linda busts out the violin (taken by Lyvi)
Aunt Cissy and Uncle Greg listening to Aunt Linda play the violin (taken by Lyvi)
Usually the day or two after Christmas we end our Christmas celebration marathon either at our house our one of the in-laws…thank goodness it was at AUnt Kel’s this year…our house looked like a tornado had hit Lego Land and blown all the pieces straight into our living room!
Brady was super excited over his cousin’s gift I guess
my kids are so amused by their little cousin Dylan…I am pretty sure he wasn’t even doing anything THAT funny but look at how tickled my kids are in these next two!
We don’t get out to St. Chuck much these days and that’s where all our family lives…so when we see the cousins it’s always amazing how much they’ve grown since we’ve seen them last…Rach just got done listening to Uncle Bryan ask “OMG Rachel When did you get boobs???!!” at the top of his lungs….not something a 6th grader really wants to hear in front of the whole fam….leave it to my husband to bust out inappropriate comments during the opening of gifts…jeesh
gma laughing at Rach turning red over uncle Bry’s inappropriate comment
and last but not least my Christmas wouldn’t be complete without a pic of my trusty companion, Madison…this dog LOVES me and rarely leaves my side when I come over
Anyways thanks for reading about my Christmas…I hope all my clients had a wonderful holiday as well…filled with many unforgetable moments and much love…
stay tuned for the SjMacky 2009 wedding highlight slideshow…I’ve been working on it for like two weeks now and STILL can’t get the images narrowed down…I am being super picky though because I am trying something new… can’t wait to share it!
The downside to winter is I don’t have as many shoots…in fact my next wedding isn’t until March…just saying…so I don’t get any crazy emails asking why I am not posting much…lol
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