Dec 28
Traditional Cemetery Picnic 2014
Our Christmas tradition, ever since I was pregnant with Chooch, has been to have a picnic lunch in the cemetery. It started in 2005 when I was on the outs with my family (when am I not) and refused to sit around doing nothing on Christmas, crying into my hands like my mom probably hoped. I suggested that we go eat with the dead people at the cemetery, which is one of my favorite places in the world. I expected Henry to say no, but I was pregnant and he has no balls, so we packed a picnic lunch and by that I mean we swung by a CoGo’s on the way to the cemetery and bought disgusting pre-made egg salad sandwiches, plastic bottles of eggnog, and Moonpies. See? We’ve always been classy.
Then Chooch was born and it became a tradition to pack a small lunch and take some christmas portraits of Chooch before visiting whatever family hasn’t written us off that year.
Some years, the weather is decent enough that we can actually sit down for a little bit, but usually we’re speed-eating because it’s so damn cold. It was like, 60 degrees on Christmas Eve, but the temperature dropped by Christmas. Henry made Funfetti grilled cheese (Funfetti batter mixed with ricotta–might sound gross to less adventurous grilled cheese fans, but it was goddamn delicious), which we ate so quickly it was like we were trying to eliminate evidence of a drug crime.
At the last minute, we decided to buy Chooch a camcorder so that he can finally reach for the YouTube stars. I’m lucky I was able to get any shots of him without it fully obstructing his face.
Forcing him to pose for cemetery Christmas pictures is the most stressful part of the day, and always full of fights and hateful glares, with me crying, “THIS IS LITERALLY THE ONLY PART OF THE DAY THAT’S FOR ME AND YOU’RE RUINING IT!!!!!” but it’s worth it in the end. 
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Chooch looks so old in these pics. He’s like a shorter Blake. Where did baby Chooch go?!
And where do you buy his clothes. He’s always so stylish!
I love that you guys do this. Maybe next year it will be super warm both Christmas Eve and Christmas.
We get his clothes at Target mostly, but I do have a super cute H&M sweater set aside for Harland. It was from when Chooch was in 1st grade, so it’s a small, I think? If you think it will fit H, let me know and I’ll bring it with me when we go to Zenith, which must happen soon! (If you’ve gotten like 8 versions of this comment, I’m sorry! I keep getting error messages.)
A small would work!
Do you prefer a weekend or a Thurs-Fri? I could make either work. Maybe this weekend or next?
Weekend or Thursday would work. I’ll text you!
I NEED THAT GRILLED CHEESE IN MY LIFE OHMYGODDDD!
As always, I love these pictures. His sweater is so perfect.
Here’s the blog we got it from: http://grilledcheesesocial.com/2014/02/12/pinkie-pies-dream-funfetti-cake-mix-ricotta-and-brioche-grilled-cheese/
I bet it tastes even better on brioche, which Henry didn’t find in time so he used French bread instead. It wasn’t as sickeningly sweet as I thought it would be — it was a real balanced sweet & savory combo. Try it!
My favorites are the one of Riley with the hat, obscured by his new camcorder, and the one of him with the crumbs on his face. Absolutely beautiful. As always.
Also, I love that you guys are still dining in the cemetery and keeping your tradition. These are the things that cause love to thrive.