We had the merriest of christmases at our house I hope you did too!

Has it really been a week since I posted?! Sorry ya’ll – really, I am. So I’m going to give you a post full of randomness on my life. Maybe I should say sorry again, in advance

Earlier in November I had made the decision to take the rest of the year off from photoshoots after December 10th. And that, was a smart decision. Last year I felt like I burnt myself  out by cramming to get everything done before Christmas, and then by the time it was over, I hadn’t really made any time with my own family. I’m not nearly as busy as most photographers, but I also work about 55 hours a week at my regular full-time job – so I’m enjoying my “down time” for the first time since September.

It’s 4 days before Christmas and I think I’m finally ready to listen to Christmas music

I did pretty much all of my Christmas shopping online this year. It was the first time I’ve ever done that. Best. Thing. EVER. I think I’m the only girl in the world that truly hates shopping. My poor boyfriend courageously endured an emotional breakdown of mine just by shopping within the walls of Walmart recently. I’m thankful for that boy’s patience with me. Real, real thankful.

I dislike baking, and that’s putting it fairly politely. But I love cooking. I’m twisted like that. But here’s my totally logic reason: with baking everything is a scientific experiment, and with cooking I can add what I want too without a receipe bossing me around. I guess it’s the authority that I dislike.

Black Friday was my first day off (including weekends) “work” since September. So I was feeling extra enthused about that, and ended up tearing the wallpaper off of our kitchen walls. I ended up recruiting any abled body to help me. It was a chore. I thought I had lost the entire use of my hands by the time that was over. That glue was serious about being sticky. Since then we’ve spackled, primed, spackled, sanded, and now it’s almost ready to paint. It probably would’ve been smarter to wait until after the first of the year. But don’t tell my family I said that part

Here’s a picture from a November shoot. Love them

I sit here struggling to find words to describe. Words to show appreciation. Words to show how completely full my heart feels.

If you follow my blog, you probably know that I did a day of “Secret Santa” mini sessions. At first I wasn’t sure how the day would turn out. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make any kind of difference. And quite honestly, I didn’t know if anyone was even interested in the idea.

The idea was that every mini shoot I did, the session fee would be donated to a local family in need. So I asked my readers and my Facebook Like’rs (yep, made that word up, don’t judge) to nominate families that they know could use the money, and then a family would be chosen randomly by using random.org.

The nominations were powerful, and heart wrenching, and full of emotion. I’m thankful that I chose in the very beginning to use random.org, otherwise I would be a basketcase trying to decide.

It has been, by far, one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. The family that received the money have been so generous and humbled by everything. So thank you, to everyone that donated, to anyone that booked a mini session, to anyone that volunteered to help, and to every single person that prayed for this sweet family.

I will be doing it again next year, for sure

(Picture taken by my phone of the gifts for the family. And thank you to my sisters for wrapping their little hearts out )