If the Rice family still sent out Christmas pictures, this would have to be the one we send out every year from now on, because this is the best group photo we've ever taken. Much better than, say, the year Mom dressed us all up in matching teddy bear sweatshirts for our Christmas card. But what, exactly, are we doing in this photo? I'm glad you asked.

Remember when Howard Dean sabotaged his presidential run by punching the air and screaming "Yaaaaa!" during that campaign speech? Well, somewhere along the way, my brother Ryan started doing that during everyday conversations. This caught on with the rest of the family, and reached epic proportions during Christmas, when someone was going "Yaaaa!" at least once an hour. So when we took a family photo during the Lowry family Christmas get-together, we did one normal photo, and then one Howard Dean photo. Yaaaa!

I love my family.