Merry Christmas!

We hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas!

The boys seem to be pleased with their gifts, and batteries are already on their way to needing to be recharged!

We are keeping busy today.  Tomorrow, Mike's entire family is coming, and today is my food-prep day.  We're also doing last-minute cleaning & anything else that needs to be done.  Looking forward to seeing everyone -- but we're also looking forward to being able to completely relax & enjoy our "Christmas Vacation"!

Love to you all!

Jenni

A December tradition!

Do you have any Christmas traditions?  We have several: making cookies, watching "Christmas Vacation" at least 20 times during the month of December, decorating the tree together, visiting family, attending the Christmas Eve church service... but one that was added a few years ago was going to watch some Christmas lights -- but not just any ordinary lights...


There are two houses here in Westfield that put on quite the light show!  They're the crazy houses with the lights set to music.  Great to look at, but I'm quite certain that if I lived next door, I probably wouldn't feel so warm & fuzzy about it.  ;)  While I consider my husband to be our version of Clark W. Griswold Jr. with exterior illumination, these people have him beat times infinity!  


Anyhoo, my parents are here visiting from sunny Arizona.  After going out to dinner last night, the boys & I thought we'd take them to see some Christmas lights.

After going to visit this house over the years, we've found the perfect viewing spot.  If you're right in front of it, you're too close & unable to see all of the lights.  BUT, if you're caddy-corner (yes, that's a midwest phrase) & across the street, you can see everything!  While my video skills could use some work, I'm essentially blaming this one on my phone -- it wouldn't allow me to zoom while I was recording!!  And, please disregard the running commentary in the background.  My kids & my dad were discussing who was going to beat who within our family fantasy football league.  Ha!

 
It's kind of neat because both houses have a different feel to them.  The one in the video has catchier music & is easier to sit and watch a lot of the show.  The other one has more religious music (which is really great), but the traffic gets pretty backed up, therefore not allowing you to sit & watch it as long.  However, as an added bonus, several houses along that street are participating, so as you're having to wind around, you at least have entertainment now! 

Enjoy this little snippet.  I recorded the entire song, but between Facebook, my phone & this website, it will only allow me to show 54 seconds of it. 

Holiday Craziness...

Well, it's here.  The craziness has ensued, and once again I wonder... how did I let this happen??!

Each year, I try to schedule less & less, and yet, we seem to be busier & busier.  How does that happen?  I don't know, but it does.

Once again, I've been so blessed with people wanting their pictures taken!  Business has been great and it's kept me very busy during the "Christmas Card" season.  The people I meet are phenomenal.  I love my clients!!  I just wish I could clone myself -- I'd be able to do more shoots & edit that way.  :)  And can I throw in that I am absolutely LOVING receiving Christmas Cards from my awesome clients?  Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!  :)

So here we are, December 14th, and I still am not anywhere near having my shopping done!  I just finished editing & delivered my last photo shoot before the holidays last night.  Up until then, I'd been editing photos consistently for about 2 weeks.  Whew!

My family's Christmas is this weekend, and I have most everything for that event... after that, I'm kinda hosed.  This next week will be the marathon sprint to the finish line, otherwise known as Christmas.  In the midst of this, I'll have my parents here for a week, Brandon's "Winter" class party, baking, wrapping, and anything else that falls into the "holiday crazy" category!

My parents leave on the 22nd, and we have a 3 day respite.  Respite?  Respite is defined as:

res·pite/ˈrespət/

Noun:

A short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant. A short delay permitted before an unpleasant obligation is met or a punishment is carried out.

We have 3 days... however, I doubt there will be any resting involved!  Those days will be running around frantically, doing last-minute Christmas things, doing Christmas... and me doing food prep.

Food prep, you ask?  (This is where you all say "ah yes, she really IS crazy.")  On the 26th, the entire Hoke family will be at my house for their family Christmas.  And I wouldn't be me unless I put on the whole spread...turkey, ham... the works.  There will be 20 of us under one roof... and 14 spending the night.  My sister-in-law, Melissa, and I have already decided we'll have our own "sippy cups" (read: bottles) to nurse throughout the whole ordeal.  ;)  

So there you have it.  My sprint, jog, walk, drag-myself-across-the-finish-line holiday season.  The older I get, the more I want to celebrate Christmas in mid-January.  I mean, virtually NOTHING happens in January.  The weather is yucky (at least in Indiana), and everyone is stuck inside.  And, you get a little breather from Thanksgiving.  And while we're on the topic of Thanksgiving, is it just me, or is the span of time between Thanksgiving & Christmas getting shorter & shorter?  Or is it that I wish I was still a kid & didn't have any concept of time or stress or shopping or or or... ya, that's probably it.  ;)

Happy Holidays!!!