When we were young, and I mean young like 8, Christmastime was magical. As we get older, it becomes a lot of work to make all that magic happen for our own kids. I know I sound a little jaded, but one of the things I’m enjoying these days about the holidays is the time to catch up with family, even if it’s just for a few hours. In my family, many of us live far apart and so we don’t get to see one another very often. It’s nice to look forward to the end of the year knowing we’ll get to see each other again.

For Karen, her kids live in three different cities and she was really happy to have them all home for Christmas this year. Luckily we set aside some time to get these lovely photos while everyone was in one time zone. Even furry Leia got in on the photo action.

In the meantime, I want to share an image of this lovely family. One of the first things clients ask me after they schedule their session is, “What do we wear?”. I think this image is a great example of how to dress. Simple clothes in similar colors work best. If you were to book a session with me right now, here are my top five suggestions on how to dress your family:

1. Have everyone wear dark-washed jeans.
2. Choose jewel-toned colored shirts, such as emerald green, burnt orange, plum, maroon, and even chocolate brown.
3. Shirts should be long-sleeved and have no patterns, designs or words.
4. Accessories are great. Use scarves or jewelry to add interest or another pop of color.
5. You don’t have to “match”. Not everyone needs to wear the same color. But, if you all choose jewel tones, the colors will go together.

The reason this image works so nicely is because each person has a slightly different shade of the same color. I love it!!

Mother’s Day is May 8th this year and a portrait session is the perfect gift any mom would love. This could be ‘Mommy & Me’ photos of you and your little ones or you could surprise your Mom with portraits of your family. This is also a great option for older siblings because Mom hasn’t had photos of them in a while.

In honor of including Moms in photos, I’m offering two fun Mother’s Day collections. Or you can call me to create a custom collection of your own. Make sure you call right away to reserve your spot. There are only a few sessions available.

After finishing breakfast, we went into the “Evaporation Room” where they were boiling the sap into Maple Syrup. They even had samples from a fresh batch of syrup. The kids started to get all excited and I had to lift them up to look inside the huge vats of syrup with sweet-smelling steam billowing around us. I realized that we were about to experience the after effects of a maple sugar rush so I got them back outside to the small petting zoo.

After spending some time with the animals we wandered over to a demonstration on how to make maple candy. The small room smelled lovely and started to get really packed with people. Of course, my kids were front and center listening to the nice lady explain how to make the candy. At one point I had to shush my son who is a person who cannot stop asking questions. Honestly, it was a little embarrassing because he kept interrupting her with little tidbits of his own observations. At one point he asked if they made maple candies in the shape of smiley faces.

Finally, I ushered Son & Daughter outside and we went to check out some of the pails where they were collecting sap. I was trying to get some last-minute photos but the kids were not having it. Here I am trying to get some nice images to remember our little trip, but all I hear is “I’m cold” or “I’m bored”. Where’s the love? So I did what any self-respecting parent does when her children aren’t cooperating. I bribed them with cider donuts. And it worked!

Can you imagine what Sarah has seen in her 99 years? I can barely believe that the internet is still so young. During this time of year, I often think about what I am thankful for and I love that Sarah put it all into perspective for me. Enjoy what’s important. The rest will fall into place.

Happy Holidays!