Maybe it’s just me, but after all the excitement of the holiday season, I can feel rather down in the dumps. We spend November working on being thankful, we go right into December counting down each moment and jam-packing a ton of activities in as we celebrate baby Jesus’ birth at Christmas, and then within a week we are sent into a new year. Wow, just thinking about it leaves my head spinning. And yet, we do this every year… and I’m starting to notice a pattern for myself of where I feel a bit overwhelmed with the daunting tasks and unknown future of the new year as I step into early January.

We all love the classic photos where everyone is looking at the camera and smiling – the ones that get used for family Christmas cards, the ones that get hung on grandpa and grandma’s wall, and the ones that are our profile or cover photo on facebook. These are the photos that we look back to on years to come to see the different ages of growth and development within a family that freeze a stage of a family’s life; but there are also the different kind of photos – the candid ones. The ones where a family is able to laugh and play, making real giggling memories, showing real relationships and moments within that stage of life. I just printed our own updated family photos for our photo wall in our home. It’s been almost two years (yes, even photographers struggle with it! #reallife). I printed off a large 20x30 of our three kids looking at me behind the camera, a new 8x10 of me and my hubby smilling at the camera, and the rest of the photos? Candids. A 20x30 of us chatting with each other on the beach this summer – bringing us back to a precious vacation time. A handful of ones of the boys playing together and Chloe looking over my shoulder – all showing the special relationships, snuggles, and fun. Both types of photos are important and precious!

I love the chance to step into the everyday life of our amazing couples and families when we step into their homes for a family lifestyle session. We know that it may mean that they do some quick cleanup – or sometimes not so quick – but getting to see a family in their everyday moments, especially in the holly jolly of Christmas time, just adds such a special element to a family photo session.

Every time I look at JD & Johnelle’s maternity photos taken at an adorable tree farm in Woodbury, MN, I can’t help but hum to myself a new Christmas jingle. The adorable little trees were covered in snow, and we walked along, only hearing the sound of snow crunching under our feet and the laughter as we chatted about life, while fresh snowflakes floated down from the sky above. It might sound cheesy, but magical is the only thing I can say when I think back to walking up to the Christmas tree farm for their maternity portraits.

Whenever you stay twenty minutes just chatting about life and its many choices after a photo shoot, I can’t help be grateful for the job that we do. To be able to walk with others through life’s craziest ups and downs is something we do not take for granted and regularly remind each other of how precious it is. This happened when we took the Leppke family’s photos a few weeks back. Jenna & I stood and chatted while her hubby chased their smiling and giggly kiddos through the leaves.