Sunday, December 26, 2010

(The Merriest)


Storyboard Xmas eve 1


It's hard to believe in some ways that this holiday is actually over...
with all the preparations and planning that we do.
As Grace told me on Christmas Day, "Mommy this was the best Christmas ever!"
I agree.
It was wonderful and much of it due to the fact that our entire family was together.

Christmas Eve we went to an early church service.


Storyboard Xmas eve 2

Then we came home and had a nice dinner together with our oldest son Nick and his girlfriend Lindsay.
It's our tradition that we open family gifts on Christmas eve.
Grace in the Santa hat passed out the gifts.
I loved that all my kids were in the nest.
Christmas Eve rd WEB wm

Grace and Will read a few books and left cookies and milk out for Santa....

and then woke up the next morning around 7:30 am, which wasn't too bad.
The bottom storyboard is a little of our Christmas Day.
My parents and brother Philip came over for the day and Dan and I whipped up a yummy dinner.
The birthday boy (Will) had a great time and wore his little birthday crown around proudly.

Sunday was a lazy day of cleaning up the mess and kids playing and enjoying new toys and books.


This month of December I've taken an online photography course called, 'Finding the Holiday Joy.'
Taught by Kelly Willette, it helped me to be inspired,
and I found it very enjoyable.
And I'm learning to like(not love) shooting in low light situations, use my speedlight when I have to,
and accept that some of my pictures have noise.
And that's okay, I just wanted to capture some candids and special moments of the holiday.
I took few pictures the last 2 days.



Storyboard Xmas day



finding holiday joy

17 kind words:

j-chin said...

Indeed, it has been a merry Christmas. I'm happy that you and your family had a great and joyous Christmas, with all your kids around. May your family keep the Christmas spirit all year long. God bless~

Unknown said...

Lovely! Your children and family are precious. It was wonderful to see a shot of you too :-)

I didn't know she was doing a class - but I'm sure it was great :-) I'm really struggling with indoor yucky lighting too. Our home is not great for taking indoor shots at all - especially where our tree is set up. I am dealing with pictures being way noiser than I like too - but want to cherish the memories more than I care about the quality of the shots.

Which by the way I'm not seeing noise in yours at all. Maybe it is the smaller size of them - but either way they are all great. I especially love the one of Grace and Will reading together. PRECIOUS!

So glad to hear your Christmas was blessed and full of His love and joy!

Wishing you the same throughout the coming year!

Thrilled we "met"!
Love and hugs,
Jill
PS Yeah that Will enjoyed his special day. Noah loved his birthday yesterday too :-)

Love Letters To China said...

Looks like you had an awesome Christmas. So glad to see these wonderful photos of your celebration. I'm so sad I didn't take one picture of our day. So much going on I just didn't feel like wasting time with the camera. I have such terrible lighting in my living room. They wouldn't have turned out very good. My hubby bought me a Speedlite so I'm excited to try it out.

There has got to be a way of getting out kids together. They would have such a blast playing with one another. Liam got the same Ironman remote control, shooter guy this year from Natalie. He loves it! Natalie wanted the Barbie Town House but she told me about it on Christmas Eve. I told her point blank that it was definitely not going to happen this year. She forgot all about it once she opened her gifts.

Love your family photo. I'm going to strive to take more photos of me and the whole family together in the coming year. I find myself missing from 99% of my photos.

Hope you have a wonderful week with the kids off of school. Mark is home with us this week. Will be getting ready for Natalie's birthday party this coming weekend. The fun never stops around here! :-)

Hugs...
Grace

Number 6 and no more counting! said...

I am sure the two days where wonderful. It sure looks it!

What a cute couple Lindsay and Nick make.

And, I MUST have that tree ornament. where? where?

Lea
xo

PS. I love the fact that you are always open to learning. That is real talent.

redmaryjanes said...

Beautiful photos! It looks you had a very blessed Christmas.

Anonymous said...

Great family photo! I'm always the one taking the pictures and never on the picture!

I also had all of my clan together and was able to get a pictures of all 5 of my kids in one picture! Not a good one or a planned one but I'll take it!

I'm so glad you had a wonderful day and....

A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to WILL!!!!!!!

Everything Beautiful Shay said...

I LOVE the family photo!!! Loved seeing you!!! Such a beautiful family! LOVE all your candids~ did my heart good to see these shots because they are wonderful and more like what I shoot. Everything you shoot is beautiful! :) I tend to depend a lot of PSE to brighten up images. Would be great to get a better image SOOC. :) Would love to know which flash you use on your camera. I might add that for my birthday. And do you use the templates from the website you took the Joy class from? I haven't tried that yet~ usually just make collages in Picnik. :)
Blessings and Joy!

ashley said...

Wonderful pictures, Gail. Looks like a very merry Christmas, and happy birthday for Will. I happy for you too, that you had everyone in your nest!!

Kim said...

Love the photos..
Love you .
You are AMAZING..
Hugz..

Jboo said...

What a wonderful holiday and birthdaY celebration! Love all your special touches! It does seem to be over fast after all the time spent preparing! On to the new year! Best wishes to you and your sweet family!

Janet

Michelle R Photography said...

You always capture beautiful family memories - in perfect light or low light, it doesn't matter. It looks like the kids had a wonderful Christmas, and Will had a great birthday. May you continue to find your joy in 2011!

Sharon said...

Low light and the speedlight....my 2 enemies. I haven't gotten them figured out yet. Sigh... Your pictures are lovely and so is the story that goes along with them. Happy Holidays!

Sharon said...

I know just what you mean Gail!! How could it be over darn it!>!?! Stunning photography, it is heavenly to come over here and see what you have done next. Happy New Year to your beautiful familY!!!

Debbie said...

wonderful photos of special memories, glad you had such a wonderful holiday!!

ana.gr said...

lovely photos of a lovely family!

Amanda Heath said...

Great captures! I too have been struggling with low light photos but I found that my 50mm 1.4 lens sure helped with that. if you don't have one, it's a MUST!

BA said...

I just found your blog and I love it!!! We have a 7 1/2 year old daughter adopted from China--I have a new SLR camera that I am trying to figure out--I love your photography--you inspire me to take better pictures of my China doll this coming year!! I will be checking in regularly!!!
Barbarann

 
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