Holiday Traditions: Posing with Presents for Posterity

One of our family's stranger traditions is what I'm calling the "Posing with the Presents for Posterity" Photos, aka, when long-distance relatives you haven't seen in year(s) send you stuff, you document it for them, so they can see it arrived, fits (to a certain degree), and is worn/used, at least once.

My mother's photo albums/large boxes (filled with random sets of pictures she never got sorted and then schlepped across the country) are filled with these types of photos from our childhood. Our grandmothers lived in Utah and North Carolina respectively. We lived in Connecticut. Travel for a family of 5 wasn't cheap, nor was it easy for them to come to us. When we'd get presents for birthdays/holidays, the sizes would be ... a little off. I remember one year, the sweatshirt that was meant for me wouldn't even fit my youngest brother. Making it more complicated? The sweatshirt was "decorated" with my name ... in gold glitter. (You know ... I have to find a copy of that photo. Maybe my mental snapshot of that sweatshirt isn't as bad as I remember! NAH...It's probably worse than I recall. Sorry Grandma. You did try.)

In an odd passing of the torch, now I'm the one who lives across the country. Travel for a family of 5 is even more expensive, and now their location makes the journey not at all easy for me during the holiday season. With the ease of texting, cell phones, digital photo attachments and now Skype, you'd think it'd be easier to get clothing sizes and styles right. NOPE.

Thanks to my sister-in-law for wrangling the kids into one of their early Christmas/back-to-school/just-for-the-heck-of-it auntie packages of new t-shirts and gloves. The shirts fit -- for now, though I see Nathan inheriting a couple down the line. They will grow into the gloves.

Above: Me thinks that Elle is not so impressed by big sister's antics.

Amber below: You talkin' to me?

Christina reports: "They are pulling some funny faces (especially gangster Amber) but I thought I would share the kids in their new stuff."

2600 miles away and New York is already having a negative influence.
How do they pick up a DeNiro impression or know gangster stuff after growing up in Southern Utah?