Cole, Allie, & Reese

It feels like it's officially winter! My family took the opportunity this past weekend (first snow of the season!) to get our Christmas tree. I also finally ordered our holiday cards. Being a photographer, it's my own family that gets forgotten about when it comes to photographs, especially this time of year. It didn't help that for the past two weeks, I've been down and out with the flu.. which is what a lot of people have been experiencing it seems (something is going around for sure!).

Really there is just too much to do in December. 

I prioritize my client work, of course. I would never let a deadline lapse, especially when I know how important family photographs are this time of year (which is why I'm delivering images within one week right now). But that means that my own cards don't get ordered, presents don't get wrapped, holiday decorations don't go up, and my home generally looks like a bomb went off in every room of the house. Nobody can do everything perfectly and I had to learn to let things go. I will get to the cleaning eventually, but this week, I still have client work and my kids still need their school lunches. Everything else is secondary.

I think it's easy to believe that other Moms have everything under control. That everyone's house looks pristine and neat, because that's what we see when we visit. We scroll through Instagram posts of kids playing happily in the snow and don't see the terrible behavior that follows (not to mention the pile of wet winter clothing that inevitably gets left all over the floor). My business side will always have professional presentation. But my home life.. that's another story altogether. 

This time of year is tough. There are lots of expectations and endless to-do lists. I truly believe that we should cut each other some slack.. and especially ourselves. Which is why I am endlessly thankful to my incredibly understanding and wonderful clients. And maybe one day, sometime in January, my home will look slightly more presentable than it does today.