Our Own Little Christmas Film

We had a nice, low key, Christmas this year.  Just our little family and time with my parents  (the boys really missed their cousins, so we may need to plan a little winter road trip!).  There was no big present hype this year because neither of my children were wishing for much.  We baked cinnamon rolls and cut-out cookies, we watched old movies, we kept our PJs on too late each day and sat in front of the fire for hours.  I was very intentional to do what I felt inspired to do rather than what I felt an obligation to do and it was very freeing.  I mentioned before that I was busier earlier in the month getting things in order for the photo shoot so for the rest of the month I focused my energy on the boys.

We tried to capture little bits and pieces of the last few days on film, a few seconds here, a few seconds there, and put them together in a film.  It's a bit of effort, not that much, but enough, however I'm so glad we did it. I love having these little family films to remember the way we are now (when we are at our best -- free of tears, melt downs, arguments between the boys, etc.) I will appreciate this even more in the years to come because as much as I think I'll remember all the little things, I know I won't.

^^wearing his new alpaca sweater that Nana found from an Australian esty seller and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shell from Mama found at Target. :)^^

^^I adore that Andrew picks out a gift for each of us and so willingly insists on spending his own money to buy them.  The diamond sword he bought for Charlie was Charlie's favorite gift.^^

I think Christmas, more than any other time of year heightens our expectations of what home, family and life should be and sometimes those expectations and pressures can get the better of us.   It's important to remember that real life isn't like a movie (even our little one on here that only shows happy moments and highlights.)  I think the best any of us can do is to be present when those perfect moments do occur, when our homes feels especially cozy, when we catch our children showing genuine love to one another, when we are all laughing as a family, when life feels really good and we feel content, because in between those moments there is a lot of other less perfect stuff.  I pray that no matter what is happening in your life that there were moments of peace and rejoicing this holiday season.  Enjoy this little snapshot of some of ours.

a very merry christmas 2013 (Enhanced) from tessa on Vimeo.