Sending you lots of good thoughts and wishes for 2007!  I hope it is full of love, joy and laughter.  We are blessed with much of it in our household!

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I just love Christmas time and this year is no exception.  However I would enjoy it even more if we would just get a bit of snow.  It is amazing that we are wearing only sweaters on some days, there is green grass when you look outside and it feels like fall most times.  What is with this weather!!  We live in Canada people.  There is suppose to be snow by December.  I wouldn’t complain the rest of the winter, but I definitely love the look of white, soft, flaky snow on the ground during the holidays.  It just makes it that more festive.

I thought I would share my Christmas card I designed this year.  I am the worse with getting my cards out to people and this year is no exception.  I managed to get a few out but not near what I should have.  I am lamo in the card department.  I enjoy designing it more then I enjoy sending it out.  Huh? 

Here it is along with a few of my favorites.  My kids which is rare.  I hardly ever get photos of them, let alone together.  So I did pretty good to get these!

And this one from a recent session.  These beautiful sisters with their new baby brother!  They were so great to work with and such a gorgeous family.

I have a ton to do this week to get ready for Christmas.  As I am sure we all do.  So I will be updating my blog in the new year with some images and news for upcoming promotions etc.

Remember to relax and enjoy your families this season.  It is easy to get caught up in the marketing hype, and lose focus of the true meaning of Christmas.  Find some way this week to give to someone else.  The SPCA is always in need of food, as is the food kitchens.  I plan on buying a turkey this week and taking it to the local food shelter.  It isn’t much but I know that every little bit helps.  Don’t think your donation is not important because it is. 

Our church supports 25 families and each year our family gets so much reward from selecting a card from our "white gift" tree at church.  This year we had a nine year old boy who "needed" some basic clothing items and "would have liked" to have some toys such as a remote control monster truck and some books.  My own children are blessed with numerous presents each Christmas and I want them to realize how important is it to ensure other children also get those things that they, themselves, have come to expect each year.  It fills me up to know that the toys and clothes our family bought him will help make his Christmas morning that much happier and festive.  Perhaps he will realize that there are people out there, total strangers, that care about him and his well being.  That he truly is important and is a child of god just like the rest of us.  Maybe some day he will look back on these acts of kindness and be a different person because of it.  I know it certainly makes myself and my family grow in a good way each time we choose to do these things.  Small things, that can in turn make a difference.  It is who I want to be as a person and who I want my children to become as adults.  To believe in human kind and to know that it only takes a small act of kindness to change things in this world.  It gives me hope for the future and I know that it fills our hearts with a smile just knowing he will have those few more things to open on Christmas day.  The act of giving is indeed  more rewarding then the act of getting.  I believe this and continue to discover this to be true each and every day that I live my life.

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I had my kids draw the names.  Keagan selected the one for local and Mary Jean picked the one for the prints.

The winner for a free photoshoot is Dee!  Congratulations Dee.  I will email you and we will arrange a time for the photoshoot.

And for the prints, Alissa is the winner and I will be sending those out in the new year.  I will get them printed just after Christmas.  I will email you Alissa to get your information.

Thanks everyone for posting your names and letting me know you are out there.  Even lurking out there.  I would love to hear from people more often as I can see the visitor stats and I am always curious.  There are many times that I am never quite sure how my images look to others.  Are they conveying something that others like.  Is it pleasing and nice to look at.  And hopefully a bit different.

I think it is like anything.  When you are so close to something you lose perspective.  I often find myself picking apart my images, and striving to do better, to learn from my mistakes.  But it is coming, and I am gradually getting there.  Yet it is nice to hear what others think and I love to know who is actually out there, peeking in.  I hope you feel free to introduce yourself.  And send me a link to your blog or website if you happen to have one.  I would love to visit and check it out.

Merry Christmas everyone.  And God bless you during this joyous season. 

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I just love this time of year.  I even got married at Christmas time (Dec. 28th).  Fifteen years ago this year. Wow.  Hard to believe.  I just had a birthday last week.  I turned 38 years old and can not believe in two more years I will be forty.  People say I don’t look as old as I am but they are probably being nice.  I hope I look younger but I definitely feel 38 most days!   

We are gearing up our Christmas efforts in our house.  I am excited to be getting a new fireplace.  I bought a nice black, modern looking unit and will go tomorrow to pick it up.  Ideally I would love a propane fireplace, but that will be in a few years.  It will be a busy weekend filled with ripping out brick from the harth on the floor, and replacing it with new ceramic tile for the unit to sit on.  It will be nice to have a fireplace to sit by during our cold Canadians winters.  Next I will be working on my kitchen.  I love paint.  I paint everything.  Including the brick on the outside of my house.  Yes!  I am a bit crazy.  In a good way I hope.

I am excited to be getting our Christmas tree this weekend.  Probably Sunday.  It is Jeff’s birthday tomorrow and we plan on taking the kids to the new Tim Allan "Santa Clause 3" movie.  Sunday we will get the tree from a local farm, and cut it down ourselves.  Can you say "photo op".  Did I mention I love to decorate for Christmas!  I am looking foward to a break from business and be able to enjoy my family over the holidays.  I just finished my last session, a family session, until January. 

Sooo in order to be festive, and since I just love giving gifts, more then receiving them… honestly!  I wanted to give something away for Christmas to those who read my blog.  The first thing would only apply to those who live close enough to me as it is a free photography session with me.  I am going to take all the names from those of you locally who reply and place them in the hat and draw the winner on Friday night.  It is a value of $175 that includes a $100 print credit.  So if you read this between now and next Friday and post your name here, then you will have a chance to win.

Since I want to give something to those who don’t live close I decided on these two pictures.  They are two images I just had printed for my own house.  I took them sometime ago and hey make me happy.

The crayon one I put in my kids playroom as a 16X20 and love how it turned out.  I will have them printed in a 8X10 and 10X10 for the winner. 

So make sure you indicated whether you live local, or away.  On Friday night I, well actually, my kids, will draw the names.  Hopefully those of you who are looking at this site ( and I can tell there are people visiting) will drop a note and put your name in to win.

Merry Christmas!

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