The Year You Discovered Christmas

The older my kids get the more fun it is to see life through their eyes! Everything is so new and exciting to them and that seems to be especially true during the holidays.

Mallory, our oldest is 5 and she has vivid memories of what they holidays were like last year and the year before. However Jillian our 3 year old was only 18 months or so last Christmas. She has no memory of the holidays at our home last year and so everything is brand new to her this Christmas.

She notices and joyfully comments on every decoration in the house saying things like "Oh mommy, I like the sparkly gift decoration!"

She has such enthusiasm and excitement about every holiday event we do as a family!

Oh how she loves our Elf on the Shelf, Sprinkles. The first morning he arrived I overheard her whisper to Mallory "I think he came on Santa's sleigh!"

She loves visiting Santa Claus and couldn't' get enough of all our visits with him this year!

She asks many questions about baby Jesus's birth, The North Pole, and Elves.

She adores hearing all the Christmas songs on the radio in the car. Proudly declaring her favorite songs (Holly Jolly Christmas and Silent Night) to everyone and asking what our favorite songs are.

Sweet Jillian...you are three years old and it's the year you discovered Christmas. In a way, it's the year you taught me to rediscover this magical season!

A look back at Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful but busy holiday season!!   We went on the Polar Express, enjoyed our neighborhood Holiday party, visited with Santa, and had hot chocolate with Mrs Claus and saw The Wonderland Express at The Botanic Gardens, we also made cookies for Santa, and sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn.

Christmas Eve was spent at Uncle Pete's and Christmas morning we hosted my family for a brunch.  The rest of the day was spent at Grandma M's house.

The recap in photos....

Santa Hats and Christmas Tree Bokeh!

We've had such a fun busy holiday season that I have been behind on posting all the events we've taken part in!  Perhaps I'll do a collage and post all the highlights at the end of December!  Some of them include our town tree lighting ceremony, A ride on The Polar Express, a visit with Santa at the mall, our neighborhood Christmas party including a horse drawn sleigh ride, and this morning we had hot chocolate with Mrs Claus at The Botanic Gardens and saw the Wonderland Express (train exhibit).

Yesterday the girls had fun with these santa hats I bought them!  And I just happened to position them  with some fun Christmas books right in front of the tree! ;) 

Vintage Style!

Christmas Twinkle

There is a thread over on clickinmoms that I was super inspired by so I decided to try it myself.  It featured pictures that had Christmas light bokeh/twinkle.

Last year I struggled to get it and if I did capture it really it was by accident NOT because I knew what I was doing.

This year I gave it a go and was happily surprised with my results.  One of those photographer moments that makes all the reading and practicing worth it.  I'm still not overly happy with the composition and the focus of the pics but I got the light bokeh I wanted and was proud of that.

These were done with some white xmas lights and a white sheet draped over the back of the couch.  Part of the reason the composition and focus is off is because the space was so tight.  I wish I would have remembered to take a pic of the pull back.  On clickinmoms they had a lot of pics of the pull backs and it was so helpful. Have I mentioned how much I love clickinmoms?


The cute templates were free from www.beckyhiggins.com.

The Joys of a family photo

This year I decided to do my own Christmas card photos.  Last year we paid an amazing photographer to do them and she did a fantastic job!! www.tiianorsym.com If you live in the Chicago area and you are looking for a family photographer be sure to check her out.

This year unfortunately it wasn't in the budget.  So I dressed the family up and off we went to a scenic location. I had high hopes! Both girls had slept well, just had a morning snack and appeared happy. I talked about the beautiful swans we were going to see in an effort to get them excited about the location.

Once we arrived the wind seemed to get exponentially stronger. Not having that much experience with my tripod it took me forever to get the camera attached to it all the while I was wasting valuable happy dispositions from the girls.  When I finally figured out how to attach the camera to the tripod the wind blew so hard it knocked the entire tripod with camera and fancy lens to the ground.  The lens was covered in mud! By the time I set up the shot and got everyone in place I was so frustrated.  With a 3 year old, a 1 year old, and a husband who was trying to go along with my grand idea I knew I had very little time to get the shots I had envisioned. I blew it, big time!  I literally took about 10 photos before I realized it just wasn't going to happen.

I never did get to see the swans.
Note to self: next year, I will pay for family photos!!

We packed the girls up and decided to try after naps, before sunset in our backyard. This time I did manage to get some decent shots. A little tip: I used masking tape to wrap Elmo around the tripod and told Jillian to look at Elmo, this ended up working for Mallory too. (even though at 3 years old she's capable of following the directions to look at the camera I think it made it more fun for her).

Here are our potential Christmas Card shots:



















Here are some SOOC (straight out of the camera) out takes!

Christmas 2010

Christmas came and went so very fast this year!!  Jillian celebrated her first Christmas and Mallory is beginning to understand and get excited about presents and Santa Claus.... you know the true meaning of Christmas! ;)  I kid, I kid.! It was fun to see her interested in the nativity scene and some of the Christmas books she has about baby Jesus and the manger.  Although we had some merry and bright moments this season I must admit I'm glad the last of the presents are put away and the tree comes down today! The Holidays are over and I'm looking forward to some calm, non-hectic, stay in our pj's next couple of days with my family!!     

Here are some images of our family Christmas 2010...including decorating the tree, seeing The Wonderland Express, Making cookies for Santa, Christmas Eve at Uncle Pete's, and Christmas morning.   

"No man is a failure who has friends" -Clarence the Angel