december, gifts, and photography

i can't believe it's dec. 1 already! gosh time sure does fly by. last night jay brought all the xmas decor down from storage and he put up the tree. it's sitting in our living room without any love! it's got the lights and noah was squealing with delight. this is so much fun for him! today we're going to work on putting up the decorations on the tree and around the house. i'm excited, i always love to pull out my ornaments . . . especially the ones that jay and i made a few years back.

we're scaling back this christmas with the amount of gifts we are giving our two boys. truthfully this year has been a little rough when it comes to the "extra's" in our day to day life. and at first i was sad, but my kids are fortunate to be celebrating this beautiful holiday season surrounded by the love of family. what they receive as gifts, they should and will be grateful for. this has been a topic jay and i have discussed and explored in the past; you see we spent our childhood christmas's differently. my childhood was filled with gifts galore; my mom has always been that way! we always had "one big gift" (be it size/expense) and then serveral small things to open up! because truthfully, don't we all love to unwrap a special surprise. my mom did that, and she still does . . . and it's still as special as ever. jay's childhood was different; they received one gift from their parents and it was special to him too! he was grateful to have a gift and for that he has grown up a humble, grateful man. and so between the two of us we have come to a compromise. three gifts max. one from mom & dad, one from brother, and one from santa. and yes i do santa here in our home. you see i believe that santa brings a little magic to a child's world . . . and they should have that magic. afterall they're children; they have their whole lives ahead of them to live in this great big "serious world." but they also know that this holdiday is celebrated because of the birth of Jesus.

we will also be celebrating the christmas holiday here at our house. my kids are so excited about it. and i am too, especially after i decided to scale back on my menu too. we're going traditional this year . . .well except for red rice and mom's spinach :0) gotta have those two. everything else will be traditional.

i'm toying with the idea with starting up my own photography business. hmmm. . . .i really dislike saying business. it sounds so formal, so impersonal. i am an amateur at best and i have so much to learn still. especially in the editing dept. but i have such a passion for photos, for taking them, looking at them, and experiencing the dynamic of relationships between people that bring out love & life! it's a thought for 2010 . . . and of course i'd be competitive in my fees because i'd be learning along the way.

with that said, here are some photos i took of nicholas & noah last week. they were pretty cooperative - because usually they are not! i'm a mama with a passion for pictures and capturing the moment and my kids don't like to be in front of the camera :0( sad huh.