Happy Birthday, Jesus! Happy New Year! ..and it's already Valentine's Out!

Well, it has been another full year and a of course, everyone has made their resolutions...except me! I think I forgot...Lol! In my mind, my resolution was the same as last year: get closer to God, dive in the Word, and in general, learn to love more. So then, I think that's pretty good! I think that if I accomplish that, my choices this year will be affected for the good, so that's a very good thing! ;)

Our family had a BLAST this past holiday season. I don't know where rules are created, but I surely always seem to miss the memo...haha! Don't get me wrong, I love rules that are there to serve, but sometimes unspoken rules can get in the way. Last year I saw a very cool Christmas tree--one that I'll never forget. It had such a profound effect on me that I decided when I saw it that our family will forever change the way we celebrate Christmas. The Christmas tree was themed "Happy Birthday, Jesus!". It was decorated with party hats and streamers, ribbons and gifts...beautiful pinks, purples, and greens. It was full of festivity, it was an amazing sight, and I loved it! It was so nicely done (you could tell someone had REALLY worked hard on this tree), and for me, it obviously caught the essence of what Christmas was always meant to be--a celebration of the birth of
Christ. I loved it so much that I decided that I wanted our family to celebrate Christmas with a birthday party for Jesus, and we did. It was our first year, and it was a lot of fun, and I'm sure every year will get even better. My daughter really, really understood why we were celebrating and when asked about what Christmas is, she always responded, "Jesus's birthday!", which really is our goal as parents. We do talk about Santa (for those that are wondering), and we had a great time with the Santa gifts, but our joy came from the celebration of a wonderful day, which made it so much more special than we have ever experienced before.
I did decorate the house with streamer and even made a "Happy Birthday Jesus" wreath. I bought a helium balloon kit so we could have fresh balloons on Christmas morning. It was so fun to plan! I've been very fond of the pink and purple ornaments and always wondered to myself, "Who buys those? Who has a tree like that? They must have 2 or 3 trees..." I was very surprised to find a lot of great birthday gift themed ornaments at Hobby Lobby and they even carried "Happy Birthday, Jesus" napkins and a table centerpiece. I did have the most trouble finding dishes (I ended up using paper plates--oh well, it's a birthday party!) and a tablecloth--everything was red or green or white.

Here some pictures of the tree when it first went up, before all of the rest of the decorations, and of course, the token "kids in front of the tree" shot. At least my son is pointing fun at me. I love this picture--totally shows their personalities.



Here's one on Christmas morning--you can see her a little blurry by the tree...she just woke up and this is in the "magic" of the reveal! Such a sweet time!



If I blog more often, I won't have sooo much to talk about each time (or be behind for that matter)! I am doing more on Flickr, so make sure to visit my photostream and definitely have always been active on my Facebook page, so make sure to "Like" it! I am now booking springtime photos and am excited to announce some vintage custom photo shoots. Please email me with more info at jholub@capturingcreations.com or visit my website to send me a message.

Valentines Heart for Charity mini-sessions will also be coming up--please stay tuned here and on my Facebook page for sure! Valentine vintage processing and outdoor fun is in store for this year! Proceeds will go towards providing money for water wells in third world countries. Dates soon to be announced; I'm looking forward to it! Start your own charity at mycharitywater.org. See you soon!