You've all seen the wonders that Jenni can create for her holiday photographs, but what you may not know is that our family has a bit of a history when it comes to Christmas cards, and as a general rule of thumb, the goal had always been to make each year's photo increasingly more bizarre than the last. Now those of you who have seen Jenni's cards in recent years are probably a bit confused, as nothing about her holiday greetings is in the least bit strange or unorthodox, so let me explain...
Growing up (like a lot of other families) our parents would line us up each Thanksgiving, snap a few crooked photos, look for one where everybodys' eyes were open, add a generic seasonal pleasantry, have it printed, and then send it to all of our friends and extended family. Unlike a lot of other families, however, the Crotty children were particularly un-photogenic. For years and years, our mother would send out pictures featuring more Nike headbands and Lloyd Christmas haircuts than genuine smiles or enthusiasm.
Determined to put an end to rather mundane routine of Christmas card normalcy, I finally convinced my parents that swift change was in order. Now I had seen funny cards before, but I wanted something that didn't quite make sense. I didn't want whoever opened the card to laugh... I wanted them to be simply confused. The photo below seemed to do the trick.
2005
The following year I came up with this arrangement...
2006
You'll notice that Jenni had been replaced by a man who would later become Jamie's husband (at the time though I'm not even sure that Jamie and Josh were dating, which helped add to the overall awkward feel I hoped to attain). Also, I'm sure there will be some inter-family backlash for claiming this as solely my own idea, but whatever, this is my post so I will take creative license as I so choose.
In my opinion, 2007's photo (not pictured here for numerous reasons--in short, my hands are tied) was the icing on the proverbial family photo cake. It also is the reason that the Crotty family stopped sending out Christmas cards, but that's a fact I like to take as confirmation that our cards were garnering the reaction I had hoped for.
Now that we are all grown up, each family has branched off and started sending out their own cards. Since Dana and I are both single (as Jamie likes to say, we "don't have families") and Jamie and Jenni have forgotten what its like to have a sense of humor, I took it upon myself carry on the family tradition.
In my mind, the fact that a 22-year-old, single male would have his own Christmas card is outlandish enough in its own right, but I also wanted to make sure it still created the "uhh...?" reaction of our old family cards. I wanted something that at first glance might seem like a relatively normal picture until you notice that something is a little out of place.. The result was something that I hope is as equally "off" as one might expect from a Crotty family Christmas card.
So, for what its worth... Seasons Greetings, everybody!
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