Favorite Family Photos of 2012

It is SO hard to pick my favorites, but here are a few from my Family Sessions in 2012.

Leave the number of your favorite in the comments and that family gets a $50 credit toward their next session!!! Voting ends at midnight on January 5th, 2013 (oh and you can only vote 1x).

Remember.....leave the number of your favorite photo in the comments below and make sure it is the number that is ABOVE your favorite photo.

p.s. Stay tuned for Favorite Maternity, Newborn, Kids, Couple and High School Senior pictures of 2012!!!!

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Happy Holidays!!!!!

    (Photo by Harmony Pyper Studio. Print available here: Fresh Words Market)

What do you remember from your childhood Holiday season?
I was recently reading my favorite publication, Kinfolk, and there was an article by Rebecca Parker Payne talking about remembering family traditions from the past as well as creating new ones in the present.  As she sifted through her memories of her childhood holiday traditions I was struck by the lack of "things" and the abundance of moments.  Moments that trigger the senses....the smell of cookies baking, the sound of music and laughter, the warmth of a crackling fire.  I began to recall my family traditions and sure enough, what I remember the most is how I felt when we were all together.  I remember the lights turned down low, the French Onion soup being ladled into heavy bowls and John Denver serenading us with his soothing Christmas songs.
Sure there are a few "things" I remember receiving.  I remember Michael Jackson's Thriller album playing on the turn table as I came down the stairs Christmas morning.  I remember the cherished jacket that I saw on Christmas Eve, while shopping with my dad, that somehow appeared on Christmas morning to my teenage delight. I think about these "things" that I remember and I realize that it's really the emotion of the moment that secured that memory in my brain.  It's the look on my dad's face when that album was playing.  It's knowing the effort my parents made to drive back into town to get that jacket that I just had to have. 
Mostly though, I remember the boardgames Christmas Eve and all the Christmas movies we would line up to watch.  I remember my mom's rosy cheeks in the kitchen as she pulled out all our traditional dishes and I remember the dancing we would do in the kitchen as those dishes cooked.  Oh, and I even love the memory of my aunt and uncle falling asleep on the couch and snoring loudly as we tried to finish watching Scrooged for the millionth time!!

So this Holiday Season as you hustle around trying to find that very last gift just remember to save a little time and energy to create and enjoy what truly matters.....The Moments!!!


Happy Holidays!!!

 

Come Undone

I wanted to start back blogging by telling you all the fun family holiday activities we've been doing. But I can't.  I wanted to talk about how my oldest got Student of the Week and my Kindergartner is learning to spell some words and my 2 year old is potty trained.  But I can't.  I can't celebrate my children's accomplishments and joy right now because there are families across the country waking up to the unfathomable realization that their child is still gone.  Shot.  Killed.

 

I have come undone with this news.  I feel like the world has a bit.

 

When I picked my boys up from school yesterday I looked around at all the parents holding their kids a little bit tighter.  Older kids looking at their parents with confusion, wondering where this desperate display of affection was coming from.  I held it together when I got my 3rd grader, but when I walked to the Kindergarten gates and saw all those sweet babies with backpacks on bigger than their bodies and smiles on their faces bigger than life I just couldn't hold it in and the tears started to flow.  As my Kindergartner came bounding toward me I thought of all the mothers and fathers waiting and wishing for this moment and then finding out that theirs was one of the fallen and I just couldn't take it.....I just can't take it.

So tell me.....How do we drop our kids off at school on Monday and tell them to "have a good day"?  How do we take them to the mall and enjoy our Holiday shopping?  How do we take them to a movie and enjoy the show?

 

So Tell me.....How do we get rid of these guns???