six smiles

Christmas 1991

The year I turned 16, my brothers and I decided to do something special for our parents for Christmas. On a Saturday afternoon I packed 5 boys (ranging in ages from 3 to 14 at the time) into the car and told mom we were going Christmas shopping at the mall, and no, she couldn't come. The younger boys were a mess with dirty shirts and crazy hair - we were a sad looking bunch when we left home. We arrived at the photo studio and all crammed into a tiny little room to clean up. Everyone's hair was combed and the boys each put on clean sunday shirts and sweaters.

I came across the photo today. The caption read,



It was the only gift we were really concerned about under the tree on Christmas morning. In the excitement, I think one of the boys blurted out, "It's us! It's our picture!" Mom opened the framed photo and I saw a few tender tears.

We were thrilled to have pulled off the surprise!