It's a Youtube New Year

Back when cameras used film, Craig and I performed a ritual every Fall. We called it:

" Two *#!+^&! Minutes a Year!"

It required the children to remain still and smiling, looking quasi-cherubic for a mere two minutes while we tried to get a Suitable Holiday Family Photo to send to friends and family.

It was a L-o-n-g Two Minutes.

Disastrous, always, it resulted in tears, accusations, many trips to the drugstore photo counter and all-around poor parenting.

With the advent of digital photography, my job became loads easier: Find a shot of each kid and create a collage -- no more fussin' and fightin'. Bliss.

This year we decided to "Go Green" -- meaning no wasteful, expensive envelopes and stamps. Just a simple recording and video montage posted on Youtube.

I'm not sure why, but every recording we did sounded like a bar full of drunks at closing time. Thankfully, there were no tears, and only a smidgen of poor parenting was involved in the final product.

Not sure that this is progress, exactly, but our New Year's Card is here.