My top 20 and 10 of 2010.

Me: I’m doing a top 20 and 10 of 2010.

Husband: A what? What does that even mean?

Me: A top 20 and a top 10.

Husband: Aren’t the top 10 part of the top 20?

Me: No. They’re separate.

Husband: So aren’t the two lists of top 10s tied?

Me: No. (with emphasis) It’s a top 20 and a top 10.

Husband: Isn’t that a top 30?

Me: (annoyed). No.

Husband: So you’re just making up your own rules?

Me: Yes.

So here it is. The top 20 of my top 20 and 10 of the photos you probably haven’t seen. The ranking is relatively arbitrary; these are simply photos from this year that I haven’t blogged but I loved them and wanted to find a way to put them out there.

Number 20. Pearl's birthday party. Kids will be kids.
Number 19. I scolded Khan for taking pictures of me because I don't like them. He said, "you'll like this one." He was right.
Number 18. And so I returned the favor.
Number 17. Bubba love.
Number 16, in four photos. (There are several series within my top 20 and 10. Go with it.) This was just a lovely afternoon in July at my mom's house. It's extremely rare that we're all together, and even more rare when it happens on a pleasant summer afternoon with gorgeous light. Here's my handsome little brother.
And here's Ben, semi willing to look at the camera.
And Erik, not even semi willing.
And even my beautiful mama, with her eyes open in a photo, which is perhaps more rare than a family gathering in the summer.
Number 15. Just a quiet moment in a hectic season.
Number 14. Another rare event - my dad and Louise take just a little time away from their to-do lists to enjoy some time at the park.
Number 13. Lily and Marina's niece became fast friends and watched Lilo and Stitch together. Lily doesn't often share her blanket.
Number 12. Engineers carving pumpkins.
Number 11. Lily is on a train, and she's doing the "choo choo" thing with her hand.
Number 10. Lily said "I so happy I painting, Mommy."
Number 9. Just another summer afternoon at the pool. Lily loves that slide.
Number 8. Lily's helping her grandpa pick numbers for the lotto. Seriously one of the cutest things I've ever seen, sans Khan's stupid foot in the way.
Number 7. This is also a series, and I love it for two reasons. First, it's a really fun action sequence with the continuous shoot release mode. I use that a lot just trying to get one good picture, so it was cool to get the whole action sequence. Second, this is Bellingham's most adorable couple, aka my brother and his girlfriend, Jen.

So here they are, playing in the tunnel they built in the snow.


Number 6. Khan jumped into the cousin lineup. So much I love about this picture -- Lily's little hug, the smiles on Connor and Tirin, and Lia the photostar is the only one actually looking my way.
Number 5. Snapped this one in a lucky moment of cooperation (okay, fine, there was some Pez bribery going on.)
Number 4. Tirin loves books. Like LOVES books. I've never seen a kid love books as much as he does. Here's his mama reading to him.
Number 3. What's not to love about this one?
Number 2. Ben being silly.
Number 1. I know that technically speaking, there's nothing great about this one. There's tons of mess and clutter in the background and it's very distracting. But I love that look on Lily's face and I can see how much she adores Tere. And I know the feeling is mutual, even if you can't see Tere's face in this picture.
Top 10 of the Top 20 and 10 coming soon.

Family portrait? Maybe next year.

So we were all in our jammies doing the trim the tree thing, and I thought, "hmm, maybe I should grab the tripod and we could take a family picture. What a great idea I just had."

Ha. Ha. Ha.
Kitty wasn't cooperative so we tried Bubba instead.

But I felt bad.


And I thought, "hey, let's use treats and get everyone in the picture."

What could go wrong.

Time for a new strategy.
I needed Lily to focus, even just a little, on the picture taking thing. My brilliant idea? Give her the shutter release remote.

Yeah, like she'd give it back willingly. Genius, Kate. Genius.
So how about a cutesy pose?

Not so much.
Oh well. I tried.

Sands, seashells, and santa. (But not in that order.)

I'm generally not one to rant about the commercialism of the holiday season. I actually love all the commercialism. As far as I'm concerned,the more lights and decorations, the better. Go ahead, play that Christmas music in November. And I'm not gonna lie - I love the presents. I love shopping for presents, I love wrapping them, I love seeing them all around the Christmas tree, and, yes, I love to open them. I wish I were a better person, but I am who I am.

But, this last Sunday when commercialism quite literally stood between my camera and a super sweet Christmas memory, I was ready to kick commercialism in the teeth.

Except if I did that, then I'd be on the news, and I'd become another one of those stories that make people hate the holiday season. So I kept my feet to myself.

So here's what happened. We took Lily to see Santa. I really had no idea how she'd react. Last year, she was having none of that, but she's older and braver now. We've been reading stories about Santa lately, so she knows who he is.

At first, she looked at him skeptically, while I looked at the signs telling me I had to keep my camera behind this line. Fine. Fair enough. I can stay out of the way of your camera, and your flash, and your whatever.

Yes, I know Santa is there as a prop to make parents pay money for substandard photos. He-LLO - I'm a picture freak. Even with my camera in hand, I'm still their target audience. But you can't tell me that if they don't sell enough pictures, Santa won't have any money to feed his reindeer. And I'm completely okay with standing outside of their set-up. Really.

But then there was Santa's little helper. First of all, he wasn't even wearing his elf uniform. I wasn't really sure what his purpose was. Then I figured it out. His job was to stand in front of mom's camera.
Of the whole experience, what I really wanted to capture was Lily's first reaction to Santa. But I didn't.
I tried another angle. Oh, look, a cash register.
So we bought their stupid picture. And it's fine. It's lovely. Cheesey border and all. Stare at the camera shot. A touch out of focus, too, considering it's a photo I had to pay money for.
So what else could I do, really? Be happy with that and call it a day? Yeah, no.

The only redeeming part of visiting Santa for me was, well, Santa. He didn't care about their camera or my camera, and he sat and chatted with Lily. He told me he couldn't quite hear what she said she wanted, he said she has such a soft voice (sure, Santa, except when she doesn't). So I clarified for him that she wants a "pink one motorcycle."
After that we went to the beach. Our plan was just to go to Johns Pass and have some pizza, pretty much just because we haven't been by the water in so long. It was chilly, but not too bad. Kinda nice, actually.

All Lily wanted to do was go to the beach. So we did. She loves to play in the sand. It didn't seem to bother her at all that it was pretty windy.
I had a fix for that, anyway. She filled her bucket with sand and patted it down with purpose. I probably have thousands of pictures of her doing something. Looking intensely down at stickers, crayons, puzzles, sand, whatever.

We have photographic evidence that I was there, too. (And Khan. Or some stranger with a camera. Could go either way.) She allowed me to help her a little.

I don't know why I keep posting the stupidest pictures I have of myself.

Finally, she got bored with the sand when she was distracted by seashells.

And she was off to find more.

Daddy helped.

Then these blue rental chairs caught her eye. The beach is pretty uncrowded in December, so no one seemed to mind us using them for a moment.

Except Lily. She wanted that moment to go on and on, forever perhaps. I told her again it was time to go. She said "No, Mommy. I sleepy." Oh, child of mine. You're going to have to do better than that. I know you much too well to believe that.