Let's face it: holiday photos are stressful! Finding the perfect outfits, making sure everyone has a hair cut, packing snacks, coming up with bribes, and dealing with behavior from less than enthusiastic participants are all some of the things we go through leading up to our holiday photo shoots. Well, let me tell you, photographers are not immune to these occurrences, either.

You'd think as a photographer, I would have my child's holiday photos planned out perfectly. Reality is that you are so busy photographing other families, engagements and weddings, that sometimes your own family photos fall to the wayside. Case in point: I didn't have our holiday or Julian's birthday photos set up (his birthday is in November so I have been combining them), but when there was a cancellation at one of the mini sessions, I called Grandma (who was babysitting), told her to throw him in the car after nap, put on the clothes he had on the previous day, and drive him to our shooting location. We got in about 10 minutes of happy shooting before he threw up from running so hard in the cold weather (he was sick but there is no way to keep an active toddler sitting still). He also totally has a bowl haircut from an aggressive stylist from his first salon visit (I think I let out a large gasp when I saw the results of the first way-too-short snip). BUT, even though I have less than 10 good photos from our mini-mini-mini session, I am happy with them. They are Julian: active, happy, smiling, curious. I can't wait to frame this series and hang it on our wall. 

So, even though they are stressful, they are totally worth it :) . Here are a few faves!