So here we are early in the merriment of December…ready to partake of Christmas adventures both big and small. There are so many options for Christmas cheer that you have to be at least a little strategic if you don’t want to get stuck watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the fourth night in a row when you could’ve been flipping between “Elf” and “Christmas Vacation” for 3 hours while the dishes don’t clean themselves.
In almost a decade of parenting, I’ve figured out some tricks to making tiny parts of the holiday season as enjoyable as possible. We take time for advent activities, snacking on our favorite treats {really, that’s more of a year-round activity} and drinking hot chocolate so chocolately and rich that you suddenly understand the deepest emotions of a Ghirardelli chocolate square.
But I am a miserable failure at picture-taking.
Sure, there are the blurry, pajama-intensive, glasses-wearing, make-up free photos of Christmas morning bliss. They’re a universal chronicle of spontaneous joy instantly transferred from discarded wrapping paper to smiling cheeks.
The days leading up to Christmas morning can be a blur of parties, activities, decorating, and pageants. {In theory, at least. Does anyone even have pageants anymore?}
This year, I’m purposing to be different. I want to capture the entire season–from little moments of unexpected rest to the traditional Christmas Day smile-in-front-of-the-tree-or-I’ll-eat-your-candy pose.
As a gift from the miracle of the internet, here’s a creative list of fun pictures to take during this season. {You can download a pdf of this list by clicking on the link.}
Instead of turning these ideas it into a Checklist of Guilt & Insecurity, customize it and think through your family traditions already in place. In my case, crafts make me tense and crabby, so I’m probably going to skip that one, or just check the box and pretend it was awesome.
So grab the camera, intently gathering moments from each day, storing them as gifts to unwrap in future years.
Oh, and if you need some chocolate motivation, here’s the Best-Ever Hot Cocoa Mix recipe.
Drink at your own risk.
Best-Ever Hot Cocoa Mix
3 cups nonfat dry milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups Ghirardelli white chocolate chips
1/4 teaspoon salt
Combine ingredients in large bowl. Working in two batches, pulse ingredientes in food processor until chocolate is finely gournd. Store in airtight container for up to 3 months. To make hot cocoa, stir 1/3 cup of this mix into 1 cup of hot milk. Top with whipped cream, mini marshmallows, crushed peppermint, toffee bits, or whatever else makes ya grin:)
Makes about 20 servings
*if you don’t have Dutch-processed cocoa powder, good ol’ Hersheys will work just fine!
