Every year, I purpose my time to document the happenings of December.  Christmas is, to me, the most meaningful holiday of the year and cultivating purpose and tradition with my kids is high on my list.  Plus…there is just so much fun stuff going on!

So every year, I make time to take normal, everyday, seemingly boring photos and/or photos that challenge me or push me as a photographer.  While this might seem like I am doing it all for show, I really am not.  These photos are our life and every December, since 2009, we have a beautiful story to look back on how our family has grown over the years.  We have proof of failed attempts, we have images of items lost in moves we wish we still had, we hold books of cultural idioms
not currently celebrated and we have the growth of our own traditions passed on through time.

There are tears, giggles, crooked trees, thrift store decorations, deployments, ugly sweaters, angelic faces and whiny fits all smashed into the pages of our story and every December, I am thankful I took the time.

So this year, I am taking a bit more time to share it with you.  Some photos might make you wonder why I took the time to blog them and others might make you smile.  Either way, it’s our story and it means something to us.  I bet your story is just as amazing!

If I am being really honest, this year I am having a hard time put my Christmas feelings to real life.  I have all the excitement bundled up in me but this is the second Christmas in Korea where I feel very far from my family and very lonely.  I do not mean to throw a pity party and I don’t want sympathy.  I am just being real.  Maybe I am ruined from the amazing Christmas’ we were able to celebrate in Germany or maybe I just miss my people on the other side of the ocean.  But this year, I really have to make an effort to get into the swing of things and make time for the wonder.  It is always worth it when I do but this year…it’s just a bit more of an oomph to get me going.

Dec 1st meant getting all the goodies out of storage.  It meant surveying what we have to decorate with and where it will go this year.  It means finding hidden gems and even some new items we forgot we had purchased on the clearance rack in early January!  The first day of the month is opening up the doors to deck the halls!  Let the wild rumpus begin!

Do you document everyday life?  Do you want to start this year?  This life is pretty darn amazing, even in the smallest details, and taking time to tell your story truly helps you see how beautiful it all is!