Favorite Christmas

I was so excited to have started my blog last night, that I must admit I started thinking what could I have happen today just so I could add another entry. (I'm also working to get into making blogging a habit and repetition will help me with that) Instead of waiting for something to happen I thought I want to document a memory I shared so it isn't forgotten and can be shared with Kara when she grows up. JLM Photography who did our engagement pictures and our family pictures this past year had a contest to win some free sessions if we shared our favorite Christmas memory and it was voted to be the best. When this was announced it got me thinking, and one of my favorite memories is the Christmas when Brent and I met. So, I entered that story and in many thanks to an amazing group of family and friends my story won!!! So, this year, we get to have not just one but three different photo sessions. (I think the one I'm looking forward to the most is when we do Kara's 1 year old pictures - I'm anticipating a MUCH more cooperative Kara than we had for our Christmas pictures this past year). So, here is the story/memory of one of my favorite Christmases:

Christmas 2008

Usually one of the best parts of Christmas for me is gathering together with family and friends exchanging gifts. That was not the case during the Christmas 2008. That year, my day started off in the Dallas, Texas area and ended up in the Phoenix, Arizona area. You see, that year – I was driving across country with my fiancé on our way to Reno, with a stop in southern Utah on New Year’s Eve to get married. Nothing was traditional about that Christmas, there were no fancy presents, there wasn’t a decorated tree, nor was there lots of good food. What I did have that year was a Christmas dinner in a truck stop somewhere along Interstate 10, way too much gas station junk food, and many, many hours of conversation with my fiancé. You see, we had only known each other for three months prior to our getting married and that time listening to each other’s music, talking about everything from our views on TV shows to where we thought we’d be in 20 years was magical.

Can you imagine a greater present? Hours upon hours of the company of the one you love filled with idle chit chat, deep conversation, laughs, songs, and comfortable silences? There can never be another Christmas like the one I had in 2008, nor do I want one. 2009 brought me my first Christmas as a married person and this year I look forward to my first Christmas as mother.

What made the Christmas of 2008 so special and my favorite is how much I got to know my now husband along that open drive – it was not a materialistic Christmas – it was a Christmas full of love and newness. I look forward to all the Christmases that are to come and all the love and newness they will bring.

Just re-reading that gives me warm cuddly chills and brings a huge smile to my face!
Here are just a couple of the pictures from our engagement and family picture session that show how amazing Christie at JLM is and why I'm so looking forward to pictures this year.