Ladies and Gentlemen it is official! We have moved into the Holiday Season! I must admit that I will not acknowledge Christmas to much prior to Thanksgiving as I am one that wants to slow the season down and enjoy it just a bit longer than most. However I do love the holiday season.
What are the reasons that you love the holidays? I have a number of reasons. For one, well I love the food! I believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas are my two favorite holidays purely because of that reason alone. Since I have gotten older I have taken on the responsibilities of actually cooking the Thanksgiving and Christmas meals and it gives me time to reflect and be proud at the same time. As a child my grandmother was the one that held the big family meals every year and every holiday. I loved it because it was at this time the house smelled amazing, the food tasted amazing, and there was always something special waiting for me. My grandmother saved certain recipes for these holidays as well, and these recipes happen to be my favorite ones. My grandmother has since pasted and now the tradition has fallen to me. I know that I do not cook as well as she did, but I can tell that my children enjoy it as much as I did at their age and lets me know that I am on the right track.
I must admit that although there is nothing that I can do about it now, and that this is something that was completely out of my hands as a child, that there is something that causes a pang of pain from time to time during the holiday season. That pang of pain is caused by the inability to show my children exactly what the holidays were like for me as a child. My family has very few photos from the holidays that I am aware of, and it saddens me because these are some of my fondest memories. I can tell my children about the amazing Christmas tree that my grandmother and I put up every year, and the wonderful food she would cook, and the beautiful snow on the ground outside, but for my children it is a fairy tale. There is nothing to physically show them. Not only do I not have these photos for my children but I do not have them for myself. All memories fade to the recesses of our mind, and sometimes we need a trigger to bring them forward. A trigger can be a person, a smell, or a photo. I am sure there are a number of other things that could be used as triggers, but these are my triggers. With time my triggers are fading. The kitchen that my grandmother use to cook in no longer is in the family. My grandparents have past away, and I have no photos. All I have left are the memories, and I am afraid that one day they will fade away as well.
With all of this in mind I have made an attempt to provide my children with photos, so they will have something to trigger these memories for them years from now. I can only hope and pray that these memories will be as special to them when they are older as mine are to me. At least I know they will have something physical to hold on too and assist with triggering their fond memories.
Now that I am older I have finally realized why my grandparents loved receiving Christmas cards from friends and family. It was the one time of year that they were able to see the changes in friends and family that they were unable to see through out the year due to being unable to travel. How you ask? Simple, it was done with an updated photo. I can remember getting the mail for my grandmother and bringing it into the house for her and listening to her talk about Uncle So and So and how much Cousin So and So had grown over the last year. I witnessed the joy on her face as she read the cards and looked at the pictures and happily shared them with my grandfather. I never understood as a child the importance. I personally hated getting my photo taken. But now that I look back and I think about the excitement and happiness that these photos gave my grandparents I now understand.
I have said all of this to say that I am excited about the holidays and the fun that comes with them. I also wanted to remind you of the importance of holiday photos and what they can mean to others. In an effort to help you create these memories I want to remind everyone that I have open slots available for holiday photos. If you are interested in a mini session please email me and I will send you the information for these as well.
Don't forget about your furry family members either! All of mine LOVE the Holidays. As you can see this is my dear Brownie and her favorite toy, Santa. I completely understand that there are many that believe that their pets are part of the family too, and I support this! Bring your fur babies along for photos as well!
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