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A Christmas Surprise

I left tulle scattered around Ashleigh’s house after making two tutus, but cleaned it up while she was watching.  I rearranged Jacob’s chairs and he noticed the discrepancies, but Mom covered the faux pas with a deflective story.  I left tape on the table and wrapping paper on the floor, but threw my scarf on the ground to hide my trail.  Dad alluded to “the other pictures” while we sat around watching Grand Canyon photos, my withering glare went unnoticed.

It’s Christmas morning by the time you read this and I will have hit “publish” only after having confirmation that my Christmas Surprise had been opened and presumably enjoyed.

The past four weeks have been pure TORTURE trying to survive until today when this Christmas Surprise would reach its destination and the proverbial cat would be out of the literal bag.  The number of times I almost slipped up and spoiled the mystery? Too many to count.   The number of people who knew about this before Ella’s parents?  I couldn’t keep it hidden.  The fear of hitting “publish” while prepping this blog post a few weeks before Christmas?  A very real phobia.

 

While I was in Arizona a month ago, Mom and I coordinated efforts to take six month old photos of my niece Ella without her parents knowing.  If Ella had learned to talk early, my surprise would’ve been wasted.  But, since she’s not a scientific marvel and isn’t forming full sentences at seven months old, my secret has been safe — well, as safe as it can be with me. 😛

Merry Christmas, Jacob & Ashleigh!  Surprise!

 

Love,

Jennifer (with help from John & Grandma & Grandpa & Ella)

 

P.S.  I don’t think there are any behind-the-scenes photos of the shenanigans required to create this surprise, but I’ll love to share a DIY tutorial diagram.  Fully natural light and one cheap lens is all it took to create these photos!







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