Just for once I would like to get my act together and send a proper Christmas card. You know the kind\u2014everyone looking at the camera, smiling, wearing matching sweaters. It\u2019s true; I\u2019m dreaming of an unrealistic Hallmark moment.<\/p>\n
So, when I said, \u201cHey! I have an idea for an adventure today!<\/em>\u201d no one looked up from their phone long enough to make eye contact. The thing is, the family does not trust me when I say \u201cadventure\u201d anymore<\/strong><\/span>\u2014the last time I said those words, we ended up sleeping in our car behind a gas station.<\/p>\n True story.<\/p>\n I have three daughters who mock me incessantly when I pull out my camera, but spend hours crafting the perfect Tiktok dance for strangers. My idea of a family photo seemed unimportant to them.<\/p>\n So, I whined. I pulled out my best mama guilt, told them they were all dashing my dreams and finally just bribed them<\/strong>.<\/span> Reluctantly, they headed out.<\/p>\n It was a crisp fall day. The leaves were crunching under our feet. The air was fresh. It was everything I imagined. However, they did not co-operate, the lighting was bad, and the waterfall made our hair frizzy or flat.<\/p>\n By now it was time for lunch, and I had become resigned to the fact that I would not capture our perfect image. At least not today.<\/p>\n I reconciled myself and recognized that I had lost; a decent family photo was out of my reach and beyond my control<\/strong><\/span>. I put my camera away.<\/p>\n Then I saw it. They were laughing, smiling, singing, throwing sticks, and not worrying about anything. When I finally stopped to recognize the way my family was enjoying each other\u2019s company, I became present in the moment rather than searching for the perfect moment.<\/p>\n You can bet that I pulled out that camera again, but this time without expectation.<\/p>\n I present our Christmas card, friends. Perfectly weird. Just like us.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n As we go into the advent season, what are you expecting? I\u2019d like to think that Jesus came for the imperfect moments. I\u2019ll be expecting him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BY KAREN VAN EGMOND, ACS PARENT Just for once I would like to get my act together and send a proper Christmas card. You know the kind\u2014everyone looking at the camera, smiling, wearing matching sweaters. It\u2019s true; I\u2019m dreaming of an unrealistic Hallmark moment. So, when I said, \u201cHey! I have an idea for an […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":5072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,34],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-5068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrating","category-middle-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5068"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=5068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How I Imagined It<\/h2>\n
How It Happened<\/h2>\n