Greetings of the Season

 

Christmas is almost here and holiday tasks are being checked off, one by one. I just have a few more gift items to arrive to make my gift list complete. Much has been made of shipping delays but so far (fingers crossed) my ordered items have arrived on time. My lab, White House Custom Color has done an outstanding job getting all the Christmas card orders here, for me, and my clients. I have been sending out printed cards, with pictures of the family and a simple message, for several years now. People seem to like them, and I know that I hang on to the ones I receive, while recycling the generic ones. 

Photographs can stir emotion and bring back happy memories. When I look back at all the cards I have saved, I see how the children have grown, friends and family have grown older and, yes, the gaps in the line up from time to time. One card I received this season brought a lump to my throat. Our neighbor and friend, who lost his wife to cancer earlier this year, sent a card with a picture of the two of them in happier times, laughing by the Christmas tree. I immediately recognized the picture because I took it and it's our Christmas tree in the background. They used to stop by every year on Christmas Day to wish us a Merry Christmas and bring a little something to the grandkids. I have so many pictures of them by our tree over the years!

As a professional photographer, I am the designated memory-recorder in my family. This means that I am often not in the pictures, something that I have vowed to rectify. On Christmas Day, we will take pictures by the Christmas tree and around the dinner table. I will make sure to hand my camera to someone else to take some pictures of me. I hope you will all take lots of pictures of family and friends this holiday season; they will be treasured memories as time goes by. If you want some pictures of the whole family in the new year, give me a call. In the mean time, I wish all my readers a very happy Holiday Season and a blessed New Year.