My mom took pictures.

We rolled our eyes and we thought it was annoying. We hammed it up with the most ridiculous expressions and posed in ways only we thought were beautiful.

And with the click of a shutter, Mom captured the moment for all time.

My mom became a Creative Memories consultant when I was about five years old (except it was called Shoebox to Showcase back then). I already had two uncles who were photographers, and grandparents who had formed the annual Christmas card picture tradition almost thirty years earlier.  But suddenly, preserving those memories were even more important.

And even though we got annoyed because we always had to pose for pictures, usually at the last minute, we knew we’d be grateful someday.

Because now we have the pictures to remember the good times.  We have those shots of those last Christmases with Great Grandma Edith and a way to remember what we all looked like back when I had long red braids and my cousin Robert always wore his cowboy vest.  Not to mention record of the atrocious dress up outfits we cousins came up with and proof that I was once taller than my brother Will.

And here I am, carrying on the tradition. Making my tired son who is ready to get on the road pose with his daddy and great grandpa that he’s just finally met. Cajoling my cousin’s son to ride his bike over next to my son because I know that’s the only way I’ll get a picture of these second cousins together.

But I think I’d do well to study photojournalistic photography, because posing doesn’t seem to be popular with my children. I’m still not sure how my mom ever got all of us to stand still long enough to snap a picture.

{Last week’s Five-Minute Friday over at Lisa-Jo Baker’s explored the question: “What did your mama do that makes her your mama?” I took a bit more than five minutes to share my memory because I was being a mama in between!}