CZ Design

Happy Birthday, Dad… from your adorable little elf

Happy Birthday, Dad… from your adorable little elf

Elf_1

I was inspired to find this shot after seeing Emily’s adorable elf shots. I thought, "Hey! I have shots of those ilk!" Albeit, taken easily 15 years before hers were.

And, it’s my Dad’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad! I know I really suck at card sending, but I still have all that personality working in my favor, right?

This photo was taken in my first grade classroom, in Monrovia, Liberia, in either 1971 or 1972. Yes, I lived in Africa for two years when I was a kid. My parents were missionaries for a Pagan Sun Cult, which explains a lot about me.

(Actually, that’s a lie. I just like to say that because it sounds so fun! Especially the Sun Cult part!) My dad worked for a telecommunications company that sent a team from the US to help set up networks in Liberia. And yes, we brought Christmas with us, by God.

I was chosen to be the narrator because I read above my age level. As if you couldn’t have guessed that.

The weird thing I just realized, looking at this photo, if you cover up my hair and hat, you’ll see a dead ringer for Coleman. I never really make that connection too often. Sometimes, my kids actually look like me.

And that makes me feel 99 percent confident there weren’t any hospital baby mix-up shenanigans afterall.

Love you, Dad!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. karla says

    hahaha shenanigans!!! i love that word!! i was just gonna say… YOU LOOK LIKE COLE!! great minds…. wink!!

  2. Rachel Smith says

    My very first thought was just how much you look like Cole in this photo! Isn’t that incredible! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

  3. Susan says

    I just wanted to leave a message because a) It’s my mom’s birthday too! and b) before I started reading the post I looked at the picture and thought … is that Cole? He really does look like you!!

  6. Machele says

    I thought the same thing regarding your photo. Definitely Cole
    Cute photo…I wish my mom would have a) taken more photos and b)not stood in the next county to do it. HA
    Have a good day, Cathy

  7. Bay says

    A few years ago, I took the family to visit a friend. I warned her before we arrived that I had gotten old and fat. When my son Woodrow preceded me into her living room, she told me later, her first thought was, “That b****! She lied!” So here’s to sons who are dead ringers for mom. They remind us of what we used to see in the mirror! 😀

  10. debbieR says

    For Weird! It is a small world, my good friends lived in Manoriver right outside of Monrovia. They too were missionaries for a Pagan Sun cult. 😉 He worked for a mine and their kids went to school there for four years from about 1966-1970. I don’t know why I felt this merited mentioning, but I called my friend right away.

  11. Tina says

    My kids look nothing like me either. Good since they are boys and I take NO responsibility when they are acting out as they don’t look like me 🙂
    That does back fire on the odd occasion when they are well behaved and obviously possessed by the good demons instead of evil…it’s rare, though.

  12. o-girl says

    You made a cute little elf. I never got to dress up as an elf (well, not that I recall). I was going to say the SAME EXACT thing about how much Cole looks like you. Just when I think he totally looks like Dan, you pull out a wildcard picture and I see he looks just like you. I can say with 100% confidence that there wasn’t any hospital mixups with my kids either. They look way too much like me and their dad too. 🙂 Have a happy week, ya little elf.

  13. DM says

    Cole looks just like you! In fact, other than the fact that the picture looked
    “old-er”, I thought it was Cole at first!

  15. Jeanne Pellerin says

    Precious picture, but I think it looks like Aidan!! Oh well, I guess you know what your own kids look like . . .

  16. Kim Strother says

    At first glance I thought the photo looked like Aidan! Although I could tell it was an older photo, so I did guess it was you Cathy. I guess both your children look like you- so no mix ups either time you were at the hospital!! LOL!!

  18. Jana says

    Funny elf connections and family look-alikes across the generations! If my kids weren’t born in the living room I’d have thought there was a “hospital mix-up”… neither looks much like either my husband or myself… aside from tiny bits of similarities (1 daughter has my eye color (brown…how rare it that) the other had my husband’s eye color… & they both have tan-able skin like their dads…)

  19. Gina says

    As I was waiting for the picture to load onto the computer screen I was thinking that the photo looked like Cole with Aiden’s hair and had to laugh at what you wrote. I registered yesterday at Big Picture Scrap. as you suggested for Wendy’s class. I am so excited and grateful! Thanks again so much!!

  23. Michelle says

    you’ll see a dead ringer for Coleman

    DUDE! i WAS SO GOING TO SAY THAT!!! really! First thing I freaking thought… HOLY CRAP!no question that’s her kid!

  26. Sandy says

    As a nursery nurse, when checking and clipping the mama and baby bands I always tell people that “We need to double check these bands, because I don’t want to be on Oprah unless she is giving me a house or a car!” Then I emphasize that we don’t take returns or exchanges! 😛

  27. Cindee says

    The second I saw that picture I thought “Hey, that’s Cole; no wait, it’s not” So lucky your child looks like you. I had no such luck–mine look like their handsome Dad.
    Great picture!

  29. Erin Glee says

    I thought the photo was of Cole, and you were going to tell us the story of the funny time you had to buy a cardboard camera on the way to his Performance because your camera broke down… again. Surprise! Your baby boy is a spittin’ image! (I detest the term deadringer~don’t you think “spitting” is much more fun than “dead”? ). Yeah. Happy Holidays to the Z. Family!

  30. Cynthia B. says

    yup. Family resemblance, all right. Have you shown him this picture and asked him if he thinks he looks like you?! (I know from my own dear son, he’d just roll his eyes at me!)
    Happy Birthday to your dad! 🙂

  33. lynn whelan says

    That’s the first thing I thought Cathy, that it looks just like Cole. And I always thought he looked like Dan. Too funny. I still have one that I’m not sure about. Light brown hair, blue eyes, fair skin. I mean how could it be. And some days I DO want to trade her in!!! She’s 12, like Aiden, right?

  34. LisaW says

    It does look like Cole! You will have to dress him up and create the shot with him so you can do a side-by-side layout! lol

  39. Monika says

    Hi Cathe,

    Love your post today, especially the Pagan Sun Cult thingy – I had to read it twice before I figured it wasn’t true. Love it, made me laugh! Have a great day.
    Monika

  40. Dori says

    I see that the Cathy/Cole similiarity caught everyone else’s eye…..but for me, it was the Fisher Price Airplane on the table to the left of you. I ALWAYS wanted one of those. : (