Merry Christmas, Darlings.

Christmas has always been a bittersweet occasion in our household. Three adults with no mother.. well, you get the picture. People have said that Christmas is for children, and for a household with no children, obviously Christmas is just another day that we get to eat a real meal for midnight snack. :)

Now more than ever, because I am technically unemployed, the Christmas spirit was hard to come by. I couldn't buy gifts, I couldn't really shop, I couldn't celebrate the way I wanted to -- you get the picture. Last year's Christmas was full of parties and celebrations. This year's was like.. really not like last year. (duh)

Long story short, I ended up just giving gifts to my family, gifts that I really made an effort to do. Since I'm the resident photographer and photo archive person of the family, I took it upon myself to give them something of that nature.

So I made photo panels of each of us. Papa's was s lot special because it had old photos of him which he's always wanted to preserve. He's had a very unique and colorful career in the Air Force, and it deserved and still deserves to be chronicled. It was a challenge fixing the photos, but it was all worth it. :) I wish I had the patience to fix all of his photos one buy one though. Other photos can be found here.

Anyway, these will be displayed somewhere in our house. Will post photos when I finally find a spot for them. :)

I guess one of the great things 2011 has taught me is appreciation for family. I'm no longer afraid of treating them special, of really caring for the things they care about, even if it takes so much effort. Most of all, I'm no longer afraid of giving them hugs and telling them I love them. For me, that's what Christmas is about -- making other people feel that they are loved.

On that note, Merry Christmas everybody! :) May you and your family be blessed with more of everything happy! xoxo