A belated Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that you all had a fantastic holiday with family and friends and that you made memories that you will cherish forever.

This year, my daughter is just shy of two and I knew it was going to a pretty epic Christmas for her. She was able to grasp a basic understanding of Santa and many of the other magical elements of the holiday which had her all kinds of excited for the big day. She loved opening her gifts and getting to play with her family all weekend! Sadly though, we realized something: we are going to need a bigger house for all of her new stuff. Holy cow. It looks like someone ransacked Toys R' Us around her - and for a somewhat montessori inspired home, this was complicated to figure out what she got first. But what a blessed problem to have, right?

It was so fun seeing the kids' different personalities showing through in their favorite gifts. One tried out just about everything, one went straight to the cars and mine wandered around singing "Let it Go" with her new Elsa doll. She pretty much hit the jackpot of princesses and baby doll accessories and she was more than ok with that. Getting to document these moment in photo form was so much fun and I am also proud to say that I DID set aside the camera and just enjoyed the moments, too. Here's a sample of some of our fun family memories...

This was the first holiday in-home session of the season and if this doesn't put you in the mood for some holiday cheer, I don't know what will! J and J and their sweet babes (2 years old and 11 months - no, they don't have their hands full at all) were so welcoming and comfortable, it was hard to remember that I was "at work."

We started this session with a typical Saturday morning family breakfast (with matching pajamas for the Christmas feel) in their super adorably decorated kitchen and dining room. Baby I was super excited about helping Mom out as well as checking in on her [empty] fish bowl - don't worry, they were stocking it later that day for her birthday! All the while, Dad and Baby C were contentedly chilling, sharing some guy time and devouring some waffles.

After breakfast, the family moved on to some tree decorating! Baby I was all about it and Baby C was totally cool with just chewing/licking/throwing the bulbs. Disclaimer: shatter proof bulbs are NOT shatter proof; proven by Baby C's hulk-like grip. Even the family pup got in on some tree decorating.

The best part about holiday in-homes with young kids is that this time of year is actual magic to them. It's miracles and music and lights and sparkle. There is absolutely nothing more special than watching kids experience the holidays and all of the feels that go with it.

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South Bend Documentary Family Photographer - Our Holidays!

South Bend Indiana Family Documentary Photographer - Watts Holiday Gallery