Every Monday, the Ottawa Citizen publishes Around Town, a round-up of all the big receptions and events held around town over the past week.  Socialites and attention-seekers throughout the city start their week by turning to page C5 to find out if their name made the cut, or better yet, to see if they got their photo published. 

For years, I looked in vain to see if my attendance at numerous receptions and galas would be immortalized in the public record, but alas, I was always outshone by politicians, ambassadors, famous artists, and women with revealing dresses. 

This morning, we flipped to the Around Town column to discover that not only had our two boys been included in the event rundown, but their full-colour photo dominated the page.  I was overcome with an odd mix of fatherly pride and extreme jealousy.

Here’s the deal.  Last week, B’s new employer (another major cultural institution in the National Capital Region), needed a couple of young children for the traditional Christmas tree lighting.  Eager to pimp our kids out at any opportunity, we happily volunteered their services.  The boys were given little remote controls, and before a crowd of 350 donors, they turned on the 10,000 lights that wrapped around the 40-foot tree.  Amid the ooohs and aaahs, a crowd of photographers immediately started snapping photos, and A & K turned the charm dial to 11. 

The Citizen published the following description: 

Arboreal Splendour

One of Ottawa’s finest Christmas landmarks flickered to life Tuesday during the lighting ceremony of the four-storey-tall tree that adorns the Great Hall of the N_____ G_____ of C_____.

The lights — all 10,000 of them — were turned on before 350 guests invited to the gallery’s annual donor recognition reception.

A____ Dearlove, five, and his brother, K_____, three, who were every bit as cute as their surname suggests, were on tree-lighting duty.

And here is the kind of grainy, “making the jump to lightspeed” photo that appeared…

FYI, that brotherly affection usually lasts for about 6 seconds.  It’s like some rare, unstable element that only exists for a brief time before it collapses on itself.  Fortunately we have photographic proof that such a thing actually does exist.