{"id":32621,"date":"2020-12-12T00:01:29","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T08:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=32621"},"modified":"2020-12-12T00:01:29","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T08:01:29","slug":"happy-family-photo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/happy-family-photo\/","title":{"rendered":"The Truth Behind That Happy Family Photo We Just Sent You. Sheltering at Home Week 39"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"happy-family-photo<\/a>
Jon and I wanted a nice, happy family photo for our 1990 Christmas card. Peter, 9, wanted nothing to do with it. Photo by Barbara Newhall’s point-and-shoot<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

December 11, 2020. Sheltering at Home Week 39<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every year, Jon and I send out a Christmas photo. And every year, we try, once again, to create a happy family photo like those that come to us from all over the country at this time of year.<\/p>\n

We hear from happy families in Grosse Pointe. Loving families in San Diego. Athletic families in Petosky. Good-looking families in Sausalito. Well-adjusted, high-functioning families in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\"happy-family-photo<\/a>
In 1986, we were neatly seated for our portrait until four-year-old Peter decided to investigate the nativity scene on the mantel. Photo by Ruth Newhal<\/em>l<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And every year, we try again for a happy family photo of our own.<\/p>\n

And every year, against all odds, we pull it off.<\/p>\n

Everybody’s smiling in our holiday photos. Everybody’s hugging. Everybody’s getting along famously. We look good. We could be the Nelsons, the Waltons, the Brady Bunch.<\/p>\n

\"happy-family-photo<\/a>
The photographer has everybody’s cooperation, except Christina’s, 1988. Photo by Kellor Smith<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That’s because, for every photo that gets sent out to our happy family friends each year, there’s a pile of rejects:<\/p>\n

Somebody sticks out his tongue out at his sister. Somebody kicks her brother in the shins. Somebody picks up the cat and plays with it.<\/p>\n

\"happy-family-photo<\/a>
Jon played hooky from this photo session to play with the cat, 1994. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We are a grumpy, strong-willed bunch, we Newhalls. Photo sessions with us are a power struggle, and have been since baby Christina’s first video — in which the camera keeps bobbing away from the newborn Christina to the antics of big brother Peter.<\/p>\n

No, up until now we Newhalls have kept our secret of secrets — that we are a scrappy, cranky, competitive happy family.<\/p>\n

And I’ve got forty years of Christmas card rejects to prove it.<\/p>\n

More holiday stories at “The Perfect Christmas Tree — I Finally found It.”<\/a>\u00a0 And, “It’s August and It’s Not Too Soon to Wonder — Can Christmas Be Christmas Without the Kids?”<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"happy-family-photo<\/a>
This year, it’s the hair that’s misbehaving. Thanks to the coronavirus, it’s been ten months since either of us has had a proper haircut. It will be just Jon and me celebrating together this Christmas. Photo by Barbara Newhall’s point-and-shoot<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"happy-family-photo<\/a><\/p>\n

We’re nothing like that happy family photo we send with our holiday card each year. Our photo rejects reveal we are a testy, scrappy lot.\u00a0 Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,41],"tags":[146,35,34,454,2391,2392,29,82,56,1333],"class_list":["post-32621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-changing-family","category-sheltering-at-home-chronicles","tag-christina","tag-christmas","tag-dont-miss","tag-family","tag-family-photo","tag-happy-family","tag-jon","tag-on-the-funny-side","tag-peter","tag-psychology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}