All I Want for Christmas Is...

A non-digital old fashioned 35 mm camera that I can point and shoot... and I want to be able to zoom in. Period.

I realized after our anniversary that I was not going to get away with getting nothing, that we were going to exchange gifts whether the budget allowed for it or not this year. (We have a roof and screened in porch to repair and numerous trees to replace and trust me... landscaping ain't cheap.) So this is what I want. And I told him. In plain English. The man can't read my mind, so if I don't tell him, I have nobody to blame but me.

But I've been here... A year and a half ago he asked me, "What do you want for Mother's Day?" and I replied, "Let's do our traditional 'get sub sandwiches or chicken' and go to the beach and have an early evening picnic with the boys. I don't want anything. The cards they make me are enough." Push he did, saying over and over he wanted to get me something so finally I said, "My camera is 10 years old. I've dropped it and it's got issues, so I'd love another 35 mm point and shoot."

Easy enough, yes? I've told him repeatedly how I never wanted to own a digital camera. And I explained why. I LIKE FILM. I LIKE PICTURES. I LIKE taking film in hand and stopping by my favorite Mom and Pop camera shop and putting it in Jeff's hands and saying, "4x5, doubles please, I'll come by in 2 days." I love picking up the package and going through the pictures, laughing and remembering. I love labeling the picture envelopes and putting them in their special box for the year. I have a box for every year and in chronological order, I store every picture taken. I love going through the boxes looking for something and stumbling across pictures of babies in a bathtub or children dressed in raincoats in hopes they'll be protected from a wasp that flew in the house. I love the smell of photographs and I love holding a year's worth in my hands.

In essence, I am not a digital girl in a digital world. I am an old fashioned girl trying to keep things status quo, and until now, I have been losing this battle.

Mother's Day arrived and there was a small rectangular box. I was so excited! I couldn't wait! I open it up... and to my utter disappointment, it was a digital camera. I didn't bother to fake it. I fake nothing. I looked at him and said, "It's digital. I wanted a regular 35 mm point and shoot, 'hand the film to Jeff', camera." He said, "I know. But THIS is better. Trust me."

Hmm. Better to whom? My husband does a lot of photography in his work. He has only digital cameras... top of the line for what he needs and he loves them. For some reason because HE loves them, they must be great.

For 6 months I did not touch that camera. I refused. Yeah, I was a bitch. Bite me. I made a point of taking out my chipped up and dropped 35 mm point and shoot 'hand the film to Jeff' camera, everywhere we went. He took my new camera.

Finally over time, being tired of feeling like the old person who cannot adjust to modern times and the bad guy (trust me, he was getting his digs in), I said I would try it. So for over a year, I've been carrying that camera around using it, hardly touching my old 35 mm point and shoot, 'hand the film to Jeff', camera.

I was getting, "This is so much easier. See, you just download it into the computer, and if you want it you print it. You can burn it to a disk and still hand it to Jeff. He'll still make you pictures."

Now am I the only one here seeing EXTRA work? Because NOW, in my spare FRICKIN' time, I have to sort through the pictures, put them in folders, burn them onto a disk, then hand them to Jeff and he can make pictures for me. Or I can use my husband's new color photo printer that he is so in love with and wait HOURS for it to print all my pictures and let me tell you, that ain't no bargain either. Printer cartridges are expensive and so is the damn paper.

Guess what I did before the Hurricanes? Went through and backed up all my photos because if I didn't and I lost my computer, I would have lost a years worth of family pictures.

No.Thank.You.

So for one year I have done this. 30 days makes a habit, right? I figure give it 12 months. Birthday parties, holidays, field trips, and class plays, I have carried this thing with me and let me tell you my final answer: I F'in hate it. HATE IT. The ONLY redeeming quality it has for it is blogging... I can snap a picture and post it. And how often do I do that? Not often.

I want a new 35 mm point and shoot, 'hand the film to Jeff' camera, that I can just blindly drop off film, pick it up, laugh in my car at the pictures and sort through nothing. Bah.

Let's see what happens. I'm a working woman now. If I don't get one, I'm buying it for myself.