Getting in the Spirit

The tree is up and decorated, there are presents wrapped and waiting underneath, and Christmas cards went out this week. So we're definitely getting in the spirit around here. Including making a little holiday music:

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I'm also mildly obsessed with the music Target is using in their holiday commercials this year, and if you are too you can go to Target's website and download them for free. I'm pretty sure "Toy Jackpot" by Blackalicious is destined to become a holiday classic ("Is it time yet? Is it time yet?")

And on the agenda for this weekend are photos with Santa, so I've been checking out Creepy Santa to know what to watch out for. Yikes!

I've had the chance to photograph some really beautiful families this year, which is why it gives me particular pleasure to look at really bad family photos. I would definitely steer a family away from this tropical disaster, unless they were intentionally trying to be tacky. If that was the case, I'd say "Bring it ON!"I may have just found inspiration for next year's card:

Wow. The seventies truly were a cruel decade. Anyway, go ahead and pour a tall glass of eggnog, fire up "Toy Jackpot" on the iPod, and laugh at other's Christmas misery. It's the most wonderful time of the year, right? Unless your mom forced you to wear a Hawaiian shirt for your Olan Mills Christmas photo. 

Just a Couple of Ho-Hos

Things are slowing down just a bit around here, and most of my work for fall clients has been completed. I'm so thankful for all the work, but I'm also thankful to be able to shift my focus just a bit to Christmas. The kids are "ate-up" with Christmas fever, and I know this year is going to be a blast. They are all old enough to be aware of the true meaning of Christmas, and still young enough to get completely caught up in the magic of Santa, presents, glittering trees, and all the rest. Riley refers to Santa as "The Ho-Ho Man", and as we were putting the tree up she plopped a Santa hat on my head to match the one she was already wearing and announced, "Look Mom! We're a couple of Ho-Ho's!". I thought Rob was going to wet himself from laughter. 

Temperatures have been frigid here, and we even got our first snowfall over the weekend. Just a few inches, but enough for the kids to get out and play in, and even take a few reps down the neighborhood sledding hill. I love the stand at the back door and watch them in the backyard while I stay dry and warm inside, and I'm reminded again of the mysteries of childhood when I have the beg them to come inside before they get frostbitten. "Aren't you freezing?" I'll ask the boys, and they typically respond that they're having too much fun to notice the cold. I've decided to adopt that attitude towards the holidays - I'm going to be too busy having fun to notice the stress.

On a unrelated note, it's hard to believe, but today is the one year anniversary of my big surgery. When I thought of it this morning, I was reminded of how much can happen and change in a year, and how quickly our minds and souls allow us to move beyond pain and sadness to a new place. A place of happiness and joy, where the pain and sadness is a distant, foggy memory. A place where you're too busy having fun to notice the still fresh scars, the random ache, the painful memory. A place I'm very happy to occupy right now.