Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever…It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.
– Aaron siskind
For most, the holiday season is a time of happiness and joy, a time to make a preserve memories, a time to honor traditions, and a time for increased hopefulness. For me, that involves spending precious time with the people I am close to, and especially doing new and traditional things with my daughter. In order to have happy holidays, she and I always have to decorate a gingerbread house together. This year I thought she would be able to help a little bit more so I got a set of four miniature houses instead of just one house. It was more difficult because of the size, but she did get to help more and wanted us to do them each differently.
Like most, another tradition we have is visiting Santa Claus so my daughter can tell him one thing she wants for Christmas and to get a picture. This year, she simply said she wanted a Barbie Christmas set and she was a little shy. She wanted me to sit with her for the picture instead of doing it by herself as she has all previous years.
Last year, we went to our local pottery painting studio in Chattanooga where you spend hours designing and painting your piece just right and then leave it for them to bake in the kiln. If you have ever done that before, you know that it works best if you paint at least three coats of each color on everything so it truly covers well. My daughter loves to paint, but she doesn’t do well with the time commitment involved for those to turn out their best, so this year we got two small ornaments that you can paint (and don’t require baking), so this past week she and I did those together. She did the Christmas Tree and I did the Santa Claus!!
Of course other things we do throughout the holiday season are drive to look at pretty lights and baking goodies. So far we have only taken the time to drive around once and did see some nicely decorated houses, but it is a little early still for some people to get their decorations up. We will go again several other times around our house, and we will probably make one special trip to see some large light displays. We haven’t begun baking any cookies or treats yet, but we will. We always leave some for Santa Claus. I know this year has been a much tougher one for most people than we are used to, but I hope you are able to find some reasons to celebrate and be joyful with family and friends…and I hope you have a happy holidays.