A Holiday for the Generations

Four Generations of Four Boys and a Girl gathered for the holidays this year with ages ranging from 23 months to 84 years old.  

It was truly wonderful to see the holidays through the little children's eyes particularly since the youngest family member is really starting to embrace the holiday events.   

Mom and Dad received a wake-up yell from the boys at 7:30 am anxious to head downstairs to see what goodies Santa had brought them!  Hmmm...I think the girl was anticipating there would be a lump of coal in two little boys stockings, but it seems the jolly old fellow was rather tolerant of misbehavior this year.   True to form St. Nick had finished the milk and cookies the boys had left for him and he left behind lots of goodies for the entire family!  

Happy Holidays from our family to yours.

Four Boys and a Girl

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Holiday Traditions...

Every family has its holiday traditions and our family is no exception. One of ours is our holiday photograph. Each year all four boys and a girl subject a photographer to the torture of trying to get a yellow lab, two small children, the boy and the girl to look in the same direction and smile at the same time.

Life's about compromise and our family photograph is no exception. Needless to say not everyone is smiling or looking in the same direction, but believe me when we tell you this was as good as it was going to get.

To help facilitate our family tradition each year we draft one of our friends to take our family photograph. For some reason our first photographer immediately moved to New York after the holidays and our second photographer just moved back to the UK mumbling something about therapy . Hmmm...either this is simply an odd coincidence or the experience really is that painful.

With the relocation of our dear friend Lala back to the UK, we're now left an immediate vacancy for a family photographer. Perhaps we'll hire a professional photographer next year. Not! What good are traditions if you don't follow them? Any takers? :-)

Happy Holidays,

Four Boys and a Girl

Holiday Shopping Advice for Boys

Shopping during the Holidays for the Girl(s) in your family can be very stressful.  Selecting that perfect gift can be tricky, but now there's an instructional video to prevent us Boys from ending up in the dog house!  Boys spread the word...

Cheers,

Four Boys and a Girl

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

Christmas tree selection at the Four Boys and a Girl household is major event.  The annual event commences in late November with the family trip to the local Christmas Tree farm.  November?  Yes believe it or not the month of December has been extended to include the last two weeks of November in our household.  

Before you begin thinking all Four Boys and a Girl have completely lost the plot please take solace that there is indeed a method to our madness.  Selecting and reserving the perfect tree takes time my friends.  The Girl chairs the selection committee and the senior Boy is in charge of tree dimensions.  Tree dimensions? Over the years debate regarding tree dimensions has become almost legendary in our family.  Girl seems convinced that 9 foot pine will fit in a home with 8 foot ceilings.  To date Boy remains unconvinced...

(2008 update - to her credit Girl selected a perfectly sized tree this year!)

Once a suitable evergreen is selected and reserved our happy troupe departs vowing to return the second week of December to collect our beloved symbol of the holidays.  

Happy Holidays,

Four Boys and a Girl

Life is a bowl of cherries after all!

Growing up my father always told me that life was not a bowl of cherries. I guess it was just his paternal way of preparing me for life's little challenges. Dad's philosophy also applied to one's chosen profession. Work wasn't meant to be fun or they wouldn't have called it work he was fond of saying. Of course that statement was always followed by, "Son life is not a bowl of cherries!"

I remember thinking during my collegiate years that my days of fun were numbered and that I was doomed to a life of servitude post graduation. That probably explains my attempt to prolong what I thought was the inevitable by immediately enrolling in grad school after receiving my B.A.

However one not to easily admit defeat, I chose to apply my education to a non-traditional career in the scuba diving industry. I still remember trying to explain to dad what I'd chosen to do. I find myself years later still trying to explain to people what I do.

Amazingly enough for the past 21 years I've made a living managing people, who manage people, who evaluate people, to teach people to blow bubbles underwater and yes I'm still having fun just as the picture taken near Puerto Aventuras, Mexico suggests. My apologies to my dear departed father, but life is indeed a bowl of cherries after all!

Cheers,

Four Boys and a Girl