Family Traditions

Sometimes it seems, as life gets ever more busy, that family traditions can fade away. We have a few family traditions that are big, some that are smaller. Eating tuna and crackers on the way home from a day of snowboarding, dinner's together at the dinner table, a trip to the ice cream parlor after the first day of school, dressing for halloween and of course, our yearly family portrait, some of our traditions.My husband and I dress up every year for Halloween, along with the kids. It was an easier task when they were younger. For the past few years, it seems harder and harder to come up with a costume, but we always come up with something fun. Looking at the photos of the four of us all dressed up in kooky costumes is priceless, and pushes me to keep up our tradition. The kids love to see what we come up with for ourselves, as much as they do their own costumes. 

Our other big tradition is our yearly family portrait for our Christmas Card. We started with the birth of our daughter Sydney, 13 years ago. We set up the tripod and got that first holiday family shot. When our son Tristan joined us we of course wanted to keep the tradition going. Each year we would try to find a new location, new theme and always included the four of us. There were many years as the kids got older and harder to control for a family shoot, that I was tempted to just photograph the kids. Trying to schedule a time when all four of us were in portrait mode was almost impossible. But, I knew that there would be lots of pictures of the kids together throughout the years, but photos of the four of us, dressed nice, looking our best, were few and far between. So, each year we look forward to finding a new spot for our picture, a new theme etc. I know that every year I will have at least one great shot of my family.

I urge you all to think about this and not be tempted to bow out of the family holiday photo this year. Whether you have a friend take it, get your tripod out, or hire a professional, it is worth the time and money, and you will look back and be so glad you did. It is important for your children to look back and see how important the whole family is.