A few months ago I wrote a blog post about doing a personal project around the holidays to spark some creativity in me.  I decided I wanted to work on my lifestyle photography skills so I embarked on this journey over the Thanksgiving holiday.  I spent a few days at my parents house and loved capturing images that you normally don’t get to see.  People get so wrapped up in cooking dinner and getting things set up that typically you only get to see shots after everything is over; when people have had a chance to settle down.  I wanted to capture the unseen moments from beginning to end so I started with the cooking of Thanksgiving dinner.  It’s always a fun, yet hectic, time in our household with at least 3-4 people preparing different things all at once.  This year we even got my niece in on the action and she loved it!  During some down time I decided to take photos of some of my mother’s beautiful Christmas decorations which she had just put up.  Seeing her house all lit up instantly puts you in good spirits.  We had a wonderful dinner and shared a ton of laughs as a family.  It’s truly one of my favorite days of the entire year.  All of us just coming together, sharing what we’re thankful for over a wonderful meal.  We ended the holiday by baking homemade Christmas cookies, an annual tradition, and the arrival of Snowflake the scout elf.  I urge each of you to capture moments like this.  It’ll be these little periods of time where nothing is planned that you’ll get to see what your real life is like.  I hope each of you had a Thanksgiving as wonderful as my family and I did!