Fa la la al la…

Here’s a little tidbit for you, just in case you wanted to know:

Being a photographer is hard.

When I was still dreaming about owning my own photography business, I had visions of lounging around all day in yoga pants, working a few hours here and there, and having a glamorous time living it up with all my free time.  Well, besides the yoga pants, that didn’t really happen.  At all.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my job.  LOVE it.  I wouldn’t choose anything else, and I still sometimes have to pinch myself when I realize that this is really my life.  But being an artist and owning a business is a lot more involved than I knew as a wide-eyed college grad so many years ago.  And although I wouldn’t change a thing about all the wonderful experiences I’ve had in 2010, I am completely and utterly Exhausted. Yes, that’s right.  Exhausted with a capital E.

But it’s Christmas, and among many things, that means a chance to finally FINALLY slow down and take a moment to breathe and enjoy a Saturday or two with my precious family. And I could not be more Excited. That’s correct.  Excited with a capital E.

I’ll be taking a little time off this holiday season, and business hours will be just a bit more scarce through January (it’s time to recoup from such a great year before we hit the ground running in February 2011 with fresh new ideas and inspiration!)  so if I don’t answer emails or phone calls as promptly as usual, please know I’ll get back with you just as soon as I can. Promise.  As for me,  I will hopefully be curled up by the fire, snuggling with my little boy, and enveloped in my husband’s arms.  And after working as much and as hard as we did in 2010, that’s right  where I want to be.

And speaking of a Saturday off, we were fortunate enough to spend a Saturday as a family doing Christmas time activities all the live long day with our little boy, Kaden, and it was WONDERFUL to feel like a normal parent enjoying our toddler on the weekend.  We started the day off with breakfast with Santa.

There were cute little games

Ruby really dug Santa, but Kaden… not so much

But just a little bit of candy made him forget all his troubles.  And side note, Kaden had a really cute little faux hawk going earlier that morning, but after rubbing a banana through his locks, this is what we ended up with.  

then we moved on to making crafts, which yielded some astonishingly beautiful foam picture frames.

such a wonderful morning. 

And then we headed into the forest (aka, Home Depot) to pick out our first ever real Christmas tree. 

High five for helping

Such contrasting expressions

We hung a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ornament for Kaden that we had bought on a trip a few months before… and it promptly fell to the ground, decapitating Donald.  Poor duck…

I love that little guy

And now I’m off to warm up my coco.  Merry Christmas to you all, and have a blessed New Year!