Friday, January 3, 2014

Flashback Friday

A Christmas-picture Story::

In case you haven't heard . . . or have forgotten, I give you the story behind our traditional "bed picture" at Christmas time:: When Jacob was not quite 1 we wanted a family picture to put in our Christmas card. We took quite a few (non-digital, I might add!) and the one we liked best was of the 3 of us laying on our bed. The next year it was just the 3 of us again and we decided to try and recreate the picture since it had turned out so cute . . . and thus began an unintentional Stoll family tradition of the bed picture. For the 2nd year in a row, our "bed" is a fake. It's not really a bed. And it's not in our house (as was the case the first 13 times we took "the bed picture". Last year it was warm and our "bed" was outside. This year it was chillier and so when we were celebrating Thanksgiving at a retreat center a little ways north of our house, we made our "bed" there and took our 2013 picture. I don't know how much longer this tradition can hold out. Even our fake makeshift "bed" is growing too small for all of us to fit. The kids just keep growing (even though their parents are smaller in this years picture than they were last year, by about 70 pounds) and it's getting harder and harder to pull it off. It takes much bribery and trickery already! 2013 marks the 15th anniversary of the Stoll family "bed" picture. 14 years and 5 more kids later, we're all still on the "bed" for our annual picture.

rebekah, jacob, joe, shana, anna, kirby, sara & lydia :: 2013


and a little flashback for you, starting where it all began. here are more than a decade worth of stoll christmas pictures. enjoy::


kirby, shana & jacob :: 1999
kirby, [pregnant] shana, jacob :: 2000

kirby, jacob, [pregnant] shana, rebekah :: 2001
rebekah, kirby, jacob, shana, lydia :: 2002
kirby, lydia, jacob, shana, rebekah :: 2003
kirby, [pregnant] shana, lydia, jacob, rebekah :: 2004
jacob, kirby, joe, shana, rebekah, lydia :: 2005
jacob, kirby, rebekah, shana, joe, lydia :: 2006
kirby, jacob, rebekah, joe, [pregnant] shana, lydia :: 2007
kirby, lydia, anna, joe, shana, jacob, rebekah :: 2008
jacob, anna, kirby, rebekah, joe, lydia [not quite pregnant] shana :: 2009
kirby, joe, shana, teeny baby sara, rebekah, anna, jacob, lydia :: 2010
kirby, anna, shana, sara, joe, jacob, lydia, rebekah :: 2011

kirby, joe, jake, anna, shana, lydia, sara & rebekah :: 2012

1 comment:

  1. I'm here! I still check in on your blog from time to time. Fun to see your back at it again! You look fantastic, Shana! What is your secret?!?!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the comments . . . they make my day!