The Attack of the Toddlers, Part One.

Shepherds need to be properly attired in towels. One-year-old shepherds  especially!

Beth and I decided to do a Nativity picture of my little friends as a Christmas gift for moms and dads...

Did you ever try to coordinate five babies?

This is why quintuplets are NOT the norm.

This is before cropping.... Note that the shepherds are not exactly engaged as one would expect in the wonder before them. Also note that Brooke is holding a REAL baby... That's Xavier. And Nolan is a totally cool Joseph, lovin' on that mama and baby. Not exactly how we 'envision' Joseph in our more artistic manger scenes, right?

Oy.

Mary is obviously losing interest in her new role... Joseph is umm... picking his nose.  And the shepherd looks stoned.

This is not going well. And the other two shepherds????

They BOOKED OUT OF THERE WHEN THE CAT CAME ONTO THE PORCH.

Oh ye of little faith!!!!

Get back here you shepherds!

Sigh.

So we went to Plan B.

Separate shots. Angels... (you haven't seen them yet, three 16-18 month old girls, and that was another exercise in go-with-what-you-got seat-of-your-pants photo ops.)

Shepherds, watching their flocks.....


And a cropped Mary, Joseph and baby where all is calm. All is bright.

Instead of one big nativity scene like we did three years ago:

We did three separate shots and put them into a large frame that accommodates three 5 x 7" photos...

I will not tell you how many days it took to do this right, but let it be said the project was filled with love.

And starry-eyed angels.

;)