Life as a Lewis

"All over the world right now, a thousand thousand trees dance with light. All over the world right now, a thousand thousand gifts are given. All over the world right now, at the foot of every tree, we are all unwrapping love." -Ann Voskamp, Unwrapping the Greatest Gift Defining Christmas of 2015 proved to be more difficult than in other years since there wasn't a clear theme, but many possible directions. Year of the nearly broken wrist . . . Rory took a nasty fall while riding a scooter on our Christmas Eve walk and the adults were quite concerned about her crazy looking wrist. Thankfully, we still haven't had our first broken bone in the Lewis family. Year of the Christmas Eve trip to the hospital . . . Camden made the not-so-bright decision (at Xavier's urging) to drop a Yoda clock from the top bunk after the 3 boys had been tucked away into bed late on Christmas Eve. The clock landed on Xavier's head leaving a large knot

Thankful for . . . so many things, but the kindness of others is at the top of the list. The Dollar Club video from Crosspoint just about made my December and I told Brian and the kids that part of what made it so meaningful to me was that our family has experienced this generosity and love often. Inspires me to pass it on. Finishing . . . my scrapping career at The Lilypad. I resigned from their creative team this month, which marks the first time in nearly 10 years that I am not scrapping for a designer. Of course, I'm barely scrapping at all. Starting . . . Project 365 again. Maybe. Possibly. Not sure yet. Haven't decided 100% I'm going to tackle this again, but I do know I was much happier with my photography in general  the years that I completed this project. Baking . . . my mom's gingersnap recipe, chewy chai snickerdoodles , and Russian tea cakes . Reading . . . All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (sad, but excellent), The Sky is Every

Camden has been out of school the entire week (don't even get me started on why our school deemed it necessary for 6th graders to have an extra FIVE days of vacation) so this week has been full mother/son bonding. [I may or may not have told him at one point that he could not say the words "star wars" for the rest of the day. And I may or may not have said at least 562 times, "would it be okay if you stopped drumming?" I was actually screaming in my head, "JUST STOP IT ALREADY."] We've done a bit of Christmas shopping, some Christmas wrapping, some Christmas baking, met a friend for coffee. He's been two 2 different coffee shops, had coffee or hot chocolate nearly every day this week, made a trip to Vanderbilt to get my port flushed (I may or may not have forgotten to do this since September. Oops.). Twelve has been challenging. We had a big breach of trust earlier this year, and I feel like we've spent the last several months

(poses all her own)

Growing up too fast, time passing too quickly . . . both common themes around here. I was not prepared, however, for this. Unbeknownst to me, Brian has been letting Camden move the vehicles back and forth in the driveway. They let me in on the secret over the weekend. Yikes!! I love the middle photograph because he was having trouble straightening up the van, and we watched him struggle from inside for quite a while. And the last photo feels like a glimpse into the future. Way too soon.

I am in the process of rediscovering my camera so fair warning that there may be more pictures than usual over the next few weeks. I've been so frustrated with my pictures for so long that it's become habit not to take any! We are in the downhill stretch of the Christmas busyness. Camden finished up school today (Rory has another week). When I left work yesterday afternoon, I knew I would only be returning for 1 day until January 4. We have multiple programs, practices and parties this weekend, but our Friday is slightly less busy than planned since Rory has been fighting off an illness all week. She came home with a fever last night so I kept her home from school today and we're staying in tonight. She is very disappointed about missing her school program, but there's not much to do but give in and rest sometimes. I will admit she doesn't look especially sick (and she's currently singing in the shower). We're going to take advantage of the unexpect

We have reached a new milestone in this house: Rory asked for dresses and shoes for Christmas. I think I can no longer deny she is officially a tween. Both kids had recitals (their first) this past weekend, and while they both get super nervous beforehand . . . you couldn't tell it during their performances. Watching your child perform gives whole new meaning to the well-known phrase regarding parenting that having a child is like "your heart forever walking around outside your body." Brian turned the Big 40 yesterday. Becky said William and Xavier asked, "he survived Pearl Harbor Day??" Completely cracked us up. Jeni's ice cream is sending me multiple emails with all their holiday flavors, and I am thinking Christmas 2015 may not be complete until we've made a trip to Nashville for a scoop of dark chocolate peppermint or maybe sweet corn spoon bread. Maybe both. It's the holidays, after all. I took Christmas card photos, edited and

. . . for a very full calendar! Choosing to focus on the bits of breathing time I'm finding in the midst of the holiday madness (when did Christmas turn into a veritable marathon of recitals and program practices and church/school programs?). Camden's first guitar recital was last night, and it was fun to watch him and the others perform (with varying success). He's progressing really well, and I love seeing him play. We made a rookie mistake and sat on the wrong side of the auditorium so I have a solitary picture of him leaving the stage. My goal for this year was to have all gifts purchased and wrapped by December 1. I squeaked over the finish line on December 2 (thank you, Amazon Prime and gift cards!). Photographing a 9 and 12 year old is definitely different than taking pictures of toddlers. They may be slightly less energetic, but possibly more uncooperative. Transitioning to a more casual, lifestyle mode of photography has been difficult, but I a

Friends investing in my kids. While I was in OK, our pastor took Camden hunting and the pastor's wife and daughters took Rory with the while they shopped for homecoming dresses, and both kiddos had an absolute blast. Community: I've been hosting a women's Bible study in my home for the last 4-5 months, and we're currently studying biblical parenting. Not only is it one of my favorite topics, but Friday mornings are starting to feel cozy and like I'm spending it with friends. Brian hunted four days in the past 2 weekends (and killed 2 deer). Not that I care one iota about that actual deer/hunting part, but I am thrilled his schedule allowed the time for hunting - his idea of fun. It has been years since he has had the time, and while each school year has seemed more difficult than the last, things have evened out recently. November 2014 was full of doctor's appointments as I prepared to start a new chemo regimen. November 2015 has been doctor-free.

We watched Annie (the 2014 version) over the weekend, and the next morning Rory told me she had a dream that I was Mrs. Hannigan. I'm sure my standard reaction over the constant state of her room had no influence on this connection. Our church handed out coats and warm weather accessories this past weekend in an impoverished area of town. Not only did it suddenly turn freezing cold with rain, but we heard gunshots and Rory got punched in the back (she's totally fine). Surprisingly enough (and I'm thrilled about this fact), what the kids took away from the day was how grateful everyone seemed for the hotdogs, chips, and used coats. Becky bought me a grown-up coloring book with pencils for my birthday, and I have to say it's been kind of relaxing to color . . . not something I would have thought I would enjoy. She bought me this one, and then I couldn't resist the Christmas version . Kids are out of school all week while Brian and I are working Monday/Tu

I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them - Andy (The Office finale) There's a lot of beauty in ordinary things - Pam (The Office finale) Life is so full. I found myself remembering these two quotes from The Office series finale over recent weeks (a miracle in itself since my brain is feeling every bit of a sluggish 40). I am guessing I am not the only one to find it much easier to get caught up in the busyness of life instead of pausing for a deep breath with the realization that these full days are good and blessed. I flew to Oklahoma last week. It went by much too fast, and we skipped all the food and fun pictures this year. Food and fun still happened, of course. I did, however, take a picture of my cute new red shoes (which I would never have bought with peer pressure from Becky). Camden suddenly switched from uniform polos (ugly) to plaid shirts (cute) this week, and I thought he was actually