Photographing our family’s Christmas tree tradition is one of my favorite things to get behind the lens for all year.

As a kid – my parents were incredible in making the Christmas season so memorable.  Of course, the “reason” for the season was always instilled in us – but they went above and beyond to make sure that the magic of it was in full force.  But, most importantly, we did it all as a FAMILY and I love having that memory.

This year, decorating the tree was a “moment” for me.  Lately I’ve been going through my whole “can’t find a balance” thing.  Being a good Mom. Being a good wife. Being a good friend.  Being a good business owner. Being good to my clients. Being good to myself.  (I don’t have to tell you guys. We all are constantly seeking that out in our lives)  And going and getting our tree was kind of exactly what I needed in this busy time of year.   Time to slam on the breaks and shut out “life” for a couple of hours to immerse ourselves in tradition. Shutting out “technology” and “emails” and “fantasy football score checking” and “Christmas shopping to-do lists” and “laundry” and “the neverending pile of dishes” and “Instagram-checking” and “Tivo-watching” … all of the unnecessary things that take up precious time in our lives that could be spent focusing on more important things…

Like my husband… who, even though he would have bought a fake tree from WalMart a long time ago, still agrees on us all going together as a family to buy a real tree every year because he knows how happy it makes me to continue the tradition with our own family.

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A husband who is also an incredible Dad who has a little pink shadow following him around all of the time.  Loved watching both of their engineering brains at work putting together our Lionel trains and then enjoying the fruits of their labor.

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A husband who brings laughter into this house every day.  (and always turns it on during tree decorating. and is always willing to let me rip on him on my blog. haha)

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And this little girl – who, I swear, sees the magic in every moment.  Every. Single. Moment.

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And this little boy… whose curiosity is always turned on, whose heart is always looking for the next person to make smile, whose eyes are as bright as his little spirit.

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And the ornaments – that always get us reminiscing every year.  Like the Hawaiian lady that we explained to Finley that we bought on our honeymoon 7 years ago. SEVENNNNNN years!

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Or the “first Christmas” ornament that made Jason and I look at each other with this look like “is she really three years old already?”

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Or the completely random box of ornaments that we have from Jason’s grandmother (I mean… who DOESN’T have a stuffed ice cream cone hanging from their Christmas tree?) – they always make us laugh but it’s also very special to have a little part of her with us each season.

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2014 family Christmas tree decorating was another great memory this year.   Kind of exactly what was necessary to get me out of my unnecessary funk.   A good old fashioned “slow down” – to soak in the good stuff. Because time isn’t going any slower…

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