I can’t say this Christmas was particularly joyful, but I can say that we all did our absolute best to fill it with as many small bits of joy that we could muster. My husband (AKA Mr. Griswold) did a wonderful job of decorating turning our home into a magical little holiday wonderland. We were very grateful to get to have a lovely “breakfast for dinner” Christmas Eve with my family. On Christmas morning, we drove up to spend some time with my husband’s family and our kids got to have their very first White Christmas. And we reveled in the fact that at least we got to be together. All of us got to be together. The only invaluable Christmas gift I can imagine right now.

Upon returning home, there was a mountain of mail in our mailbox. Dozens and dozens of Christmas cards piled up because we haven’t had two seconds to drive down and check the mail in so long. I spent a good 30 minutes just opening cards tonight and in the middle of it, I just broke down. How wonderful is it to see so many beautiful, BEAUTIFUL families together, smiling back on those cards. Moving notes of encouragement from clients to us…people who don’t even know my brother-in-law, lifting us up in their thoughts this holiday season. Little gifts of appreciation, of peace, of “we’re thinking of you.” The power of your love and understanding is almost too much to bear at times. Thank you. Thank you to everyone who took the time to send out a holiday card this year. You have no idea how wonderful it is to see so much happiness all over the world!

j.imprints is still going strong and the sense of purpose it has given to Virgil and I has been so incredibly valuable. Go search #jimprints on Instagram…how cool is it to see how people are using and displaying their images? Keep sharing. Keep posting. Keep tagging. Keep us hoping.

I’m certain this post is fairly jumbled as we’re all pretty tired and trying to get back into real life after the whirlwind of the holidays. Please forgive me if communication is slow over the next several weeks. So much piled up during the holiday rush and all of the family stuff. And we are now gearing up for the first set of photography workshops at the beginning of Jan. I am very, very much looking forward to immersing myself into the world of family photography learning and teaching and improving and I cannot wait to meet these women who are coming in from all over the world to talk shop with me.

I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that you were touched by magic this holiday season and I wish you all the very best 2013 you could possibly imagine.

Much love,

Michele