The first Mr Quar was the eldest of four sons
and as his parents had never had a good snap of them all together, I bullied them into having one done.

After several months of badgering, they agreed and we all piled into his brother's house. We posed in various combinations - four men together, with/without wives/fiancees/children and so on.

The result was a huge portrait of the brothers in an ornate gold frame and a book of smaller photos of the families.

This was of course a big secret and on the day, the 'rents were given the gift in front of everyone, the album coming first and the portrait as a grand finale.

It was a massive success. Both parents cried and for a few weeks afterwards, Mother would invite people in off the street to look at the big photo, in pride of place in the lounge.

He and I are divorced now and both his parents are dead, but that present still seems like the best ever to me.

I recommend doing the same if you're stuck for a gift for your old dears - they love it.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Fri 27 Nov 2009, 12:47, 4 replies)

Lovely!
A few years ago we treated my Grandma to a photoshoot with both her sons and their families on her 90th birthday. My uncle and his family had come over from Australia for the party, and it was a rather special occasion. Sadly the daft bint who we'd gone to for our photos was little more than a housewife taking photos as a hobby. In her wisdom she chose to shoot using a manual camera with "real film" which meant that she didn't notice that ALL the pictures she had taken were out of focus until after they'd been developed. She'd accidently taken the camera off its Automatic setting and so none of the pics were usable. Fortunately we got our money back, but no momentos of that special day.
Glad your attempt went better than ours!
( e.m.m.y. foxtrot uniform charlie kilo india tango, Fri 27 Nov 2009, 16:06, closed)

Oh no,
what a mess.
I bet you were hopping mad.

Still, I bet there were other snaps floating around that she liked just as much as she would've the 'proper' one.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Fri 27 Nov 2009, 22:41, closed)

Sounds like a contender for an entry in last week's image challenge
Given that you're no longer with the first Mr Quar, have they cut you out of the pictures?
( Snappyuk gets BIGGER with free sample., Fri 27 Nov 2009, 20:30, closed)

Probably had to
after his mother'd ritually spat on my image every day from the moment I kicked him out.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Fri 27 Nov 2009, 22:43, closed)