How to incorporate your photos into your holiday celebrations this year.

***Was I feeling a bit salty when I made that ornament in the image up there? You bet I was! 2020 man, what a year. Also, my girls spontaneously had this legit fight right in front of my camera (I'm glad they are comfortable, I guess?) and I couldn't think of anything more 2020 than that.***

Gifting, decorating, remembering. All parts of the holiday season that I love. Photos are a big, big part of that for me.

Once again, like a broken record, here I am saying it again: Print. Your. Photos. The holiday season gives a unique and perfect opportunity to take your favorites from the year out of the digital world and into the real one.

Do it. You won't regret the investment. And if you need some updated images of you with your family, you won't regret that investment either.

Cards of course, if you're the type who enjoys creating and sending them. I keep our card up all year on the fridge or nearby magnet board, and keep a copy in a little bundle with each card we've sent since my first baby was born. It's a fun little walk down memory lane each year as I add the newest one. They sure grow fast, don't they? And if you become too busy or just don't have the space in your head to add one more thing during the season, Happy New Year cards are equally wonderful. I even got a photo Valentine card once, and that was awesome too! Just use your photos, share them with friends and family. Not everyone is on social media, and not everyone posts to social media, and a card is a perfect little way to catch up your friends and loved ones on just how much your family has grown.

Create a Custom Ornament

If you enjoy decorating a tree, creating an annual ornament is another beautiful way to turn a family photograph into a keepsake (see above, fighting children keepsake ornament. I know we will all laugh about it for years to come). Now I am certainly not a Pinterest, everything-matching-and-placed-just-so tree kind of girl. No, my tree is full of memories. My children do most of the decorating of it these days, and the result is a unique piece of annual art all on its own. I will never forget the year alllll the decorations were fully loaded on the lower branches, exactly as high as they could reach. Or the time I coated my sleeping newborn's feet in glue and glitter, the precious handprint snowmen, or the tongue depressor ballerinas they made in the lobby of McCaw Hall before the Nutcracker. All of it is pure love to me.

We have a lot of these special ornaments--handmade by my kids, vintage from trees long past, mementos of places and trips and times together. My very favorite little box to open each year though, contains those annual photo ornaments of my girls. They are so easy to have made. Once you have your images back from your family photo session, pick a favorite and in no time you'll have something unique to your family. This year the photo I chose is admittedly is a little extra, as I usually go for a more loving, sweet image of my kids. But you know what? It's perfectly 2020. Right down to me having the wrong ages of my kids printed on the other side. Oops! I hope someday it will be a memory of this year overall, and the time we spent together for better and for worse. It's just a quick snap of how our family looked in this year.

Giving photos as gifts

And if cards and ornaments are not your thing, photographs of your family make gift-giving *so* easy.

Grandparents? Prints or canvas. In-laws love the photo from your session of your spouse with with your kids, the whole family together, or just the grandkids. Or all of the above! Small things, like a collection of prints that can be displayed or switched out as families grow, make meaningful and simple gifts.

Spouse? Maybe something beautiful to brighten up an office space. Every session I photograph includes a few minutes with just the parents together, and these images make wonderful gifts, and a reminder of your love.

A high quality print (from a reputable print lab rather than the corner drugstore) is beautiful, timeless, and guaranteed to give a smile. In these days when we have just so much in the way of disposable material things, giving something lasting, sentimental, and beautiful brings even more meaning to the season. I really love the simplicity of some quality prints with a small wood or acrylic block holder. They are so easy to update and switch out, without having to take a frame down and apart. Usually a few prints will fit, so they can be rotated throughout seasons or updated as you get back around to printing more photos (hint, hint). Seriously, print those photos please.

Of course time is out for holiday gift-giving this year, regardless of what or how you celebrate. And that's perfectly okay. A new year is just about upon us. With high hopes for better things to come, I challenge you to spend some time reflecting on all that 2020 has been. If you don't have a photograph you love yet, time is not out for that. As we look ahead to new and better things, take some time to create something beautiful for your home from at least one photograph from 2020 that has meaning for you. It can be as simple as printing something that has been stuck on your phone. It can be as grand as creating a show-stopping canvas, wood or acrylic piece of art for your living room wall.

I of course hope you have some professional photos of your family and your kids from this year. If you don't, make that a resolution for 2021. Photo sessions themselves make great gifts too. Because mom, you deserve to be in the picture too. And whatever you have captured from 2020, I urge you to create something with it. Even if like me, sometimes that means ordering after the holidays, adding it to the storage bins straight away, but then having a fun and beautiful little surprise to open up next year. Happy end of 2020 friends!