Life with Lisa Kelly Photography

A Happy Christmas to All and to All a Goodnight!

Well it's Christmas Eve, and I know the first thing you will all be doing tomorrow morning is reading my blog, then letting your kids open their presents so I thought I better have something for you to read.

I'm feeling a teeny tiny bit better now, thank goodness, and have managed to get my act together and I'm all set for Christmas.  Everything is wrapped, cooked, sparkling and ready to go.

The kids and I have been enjoying doing some Christmas craft and baking and just slowing down the pace a little.  What a crazy time of year.  I'm glad things are settling down and we are just so excited to be spending Christmas at home.  I can't imagine what it will be like in the morning.

The kids are now sound asleep, the reindeer food is on the front lawn, Liv has written a letter to Santa and the gingerbread we made, along with milk, cookies and carrots have been left out for Santa.  The magic key is hanging on the door so he can get in, the Christmas lights are on outside, the stockings are ready and waiting, we've read The Night Before Christmas, we've snuggled and giggled and talked about what we think the best bit about tomorrow will be.  I've got all of the platters and servers and bon bons and serviettes and glasses, blah blah blah out and all ready.  The video camera and the camera are all charged and ready.  It's my greatest fear that I will go to bed and forget to put the presents out.  Wouldn't that be just the worst thing ever.  Anyway, I'm ready...........I just need to wait until I'm ready for bed before I put the presents out and then it's done.  Nothing else can be bought, if it's not right, then it's not, if there isn't enough, well there just isn't enough, but I know there's too much, there always is.  There is such a fine line between the feeling of not having enough and the feeling of completely going overboard.  I teeter between the two daily LOL.

So my babies are tucked up in their beds with sugarplums dancing in their heads and I'm so excited for them.  To be them and to have the morning they will have tomorrow.  It's pure MAGIC..........and I miss it.  I still remember it but it's never the same once the magic is gone, never quite the same.

So here's cheers to the MAGIC of Christmas, may it live in your children's hearts forever!

And what is a post without photos, here are my babies making gingerbread cookies last week:-

Playing around, pretending they like each other......

Now it's down to business.......

Concentrating on his art.............

The decorating queen.........

They always like me to do a personalised one for each of them......

I made this Western Bulldogs one for The Singing Chef

The finished product, hours of love and fun.......

So Merry Christmas everyone, stay safe, have fun, have a champers for me and kiss your kids for me................Lisa

Words to live by......

"I've learned that people will forget what you said,

people will forget what you did,

but people will never forget how you made them feel."
                                                                             ~Maya Angelou


Amen to that............words to live by, especially at this time of year!

Sorry I haven't been blogging, I've been soooo sick, can't drag my tired old body off the couch.  In-laws arrive today so better suck it up I guess.  Hopefully I'll feel better by tomorrow so that I can ramble on to you all a bit for Christmas.  I mean seriously, it wouldn't be Christmas without hearing some precious piece of "diddly squat" from me right?  LOLOLOLOL.......ciao and send me good health vibes will ya.

A big thank you to my clients - in pictures..........

I just want to take a moment from this busy season that we are all caught up in, to let you all know how thankful I am for you sharing a piece of yourselves in our sessions, and for trusting me to capture your family’s unique love and laughter in your images.   I know that I am truly blessed to have such an amazing job.

So please take a minute and pour yourself a glass of your favourite drink (we all know mine will be champagne), sit back and relax, as I share some images from 2007 and some of the cutest kids around:-

www.lisakellyphotography.com/christmas2007.exe

The slideshow will take 2-3 minutes to download onto your desktop and then all you need to do is double click on the icon.  Don't forget to turn your speakers on too. Enjoy!

Not everyone is featured in the slideshow as I was lucky enough to have the most amazingly busy year.  It is however a good variety from 2007.

May your Festive Season be filled with good food & drink, friends and family, the laughter of your children, the joy of knowing your many blessings, lots of love but most importantly, good health.

Wishing you an old fashioned Christmas, filled with happy memories, presents under the Christmas tree, smells of the season, warmest Christmas greetings, from my home to yours, Merry Christmas!!!!

Lisa......................xxxooo

 

Posting Letters one at a time.....

I was just at the shops with my son and I had some last minute cards and things to post.  He begged could he post them and I said sure.  Because he's only 5 he obviously couldn't reach the slot so I held him up and he started posting them.................one at a time!  As I was standing there struggling to hold his weight, wishing he would just stuff them all in and be done with it, I have things to do, etc. I stopped for a second to actually look at his face which was all happy and filled with concentration for his task.  I wondered what it must be like to think that posting one letter at a time is fun and to have not a care in the world.

We as grown ups (especially at this time of year) spend every second rushing around, forgetting about the important things, completely caught up in things that really aren't.  I am terrible for this myself.  But just watching him this morning I felt so envious of him.  I want to feel so calm and time rich that I can post one letter at a time (and enjoy it)...........maybe that can be my New Years Resolution!

That and lose weight, spend less, get fit (which frankly is just a standard ridiculous promise I make to myself each year that I know I will break, hehe.)

Getting to know me better at Christmas, hehe

This is lots of a fun.  A friend sent it through to me to fill out and I thought it was cute so thought why not post it on the blog.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper

2. Real tree or artificial?     3 Artificial ones

3. When do you put up the tree?  November, but would do it in October if the Singing Chef would let me, hehe

4. When do you take the tree down? usually around 27th Dec as by then I have well and truly had enough

5. Do you like eggnog?    No way, raw egg, yuk

6.  What was your favorite gift received as a child? my Chrissie doll when I was 3, I still have her and she's gorgeous (although the kids have trashed her a little)

7. Do you have a nativity scene?  Yes, I have 3 of them

8. Hardest person to buy for?  My stepfather and father-in-law

9. Easiest person to buy for? My kidlets, I said easy, not cheap

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?  clothes from my mother-in-law that are 2 sizes too small, okay okay I get it, I could lose a few pounds, stop nagging (gosh I hope she doesn't read this)

11. Mail or email cards?  Mail

12. Favorite Christmas Movie ?  don't get me started, can I write a few -  all of the Santa Clause movies, Miracle on 34th Street, Mrs. Santa Claus, Christmas with the Kranks, and many many many more (I adore Christmas movies and we pretty much watch them all year) 

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? all year long (although as I've gotten busier with the business, it's a mad dash in December, hehe)

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?  Not that I can think of (but I wouldn't put it past me LOL)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? ham, ham and more ham, oh and a little Christmas pudding

 

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?   clear of course

17. Favorite Christmas song?  again, how do I choose, I'll have to write a few - Deck the Halls, Do they know it's Christmas, Let it Snow (the Ella version of course), Last Christmas (love me some Wham), Santa Claus is coming to Town, oh this is just too hard.  I LOVE every Christmas song

18. Travel for Christmas or stay at home?   well we have always travelled, in fact my children have never spent a Christmas in their own home - that is until this year, yipeeeeeeeee.  We are having our first Christmas at home and we couldn't be more thrilled.  I get excited just thinking about how special it will be for all of us.  I can't wait  for school to finish this week and to really feel like yes, we are staying at home.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? does a one legged duck swim in circles (is that really the right saying?)-you know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen,  Comet and Cupid and Donner (but I think it is actually Donder which sounds weird) and Blitzen but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all, is it herman, no, is it sherman, no, is it eddie is it freddie is it, NONONO, you'll never ever guess so don't...........oh my goodness, you know, I am totally sitting here singing this aloud as I type.  Stop it Lisa and just write Rudolph for goodness sake!

   
20. Angel on the tree top or a star?   angel on two trees and star on one

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? oh my, Christmas morning only, love running into the lounge to see what Santa has brought

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?  stress, credit cards LOL, life just too darn busy, wrapping presents (admit it people, it's only fun for the first 4 or 5 and this it's just plain hard work), grumpy people, the shopping centres, etc. etc. etc.

23. What I love most about Christmas?  Seeing the kid's faces on Christmas morning hands down, oh and yeah all the yummy food.

I would love you guys to send me through your answers, it's always funny to hear people's faves......

A nearly Baked Bun..........

This little bun only has 7 days left to bake until it joins the world.  I know I know, at this point you all hate this client of mine right????????  How can her belly be that small with only 7 days to go?  Don't ask me, if I knew the answer to that I would've looked a whole lot sexier during my pregnancies, I would've given the whole humpty dumpty look a miss (hey I think I still look like humpty dumpty, oh dear).  Anyway this session was so special.  This mummy to be is the loveliest of lovely ladies, a true gentle soul and one of the most giving and caring people I've met.  My favourite part of the whole shoot was sitting down for a chat and a cuppa afterwards.  She's so sweet you just feel her sweetness wash over you when you are in her presence.  I think she is going to make the best mummy and I can't wait until I meet this much anticipated baby......

Okay well that is my last shoot for the year.  I was scared we would never get these beautiful photos after many reschedules due to illness, etc.  I'm so glad we did.

To anyone thinking of having maternity photos taken, 32 weeks is the perfect time to have your session.

Fundraising Dinner for Diabetes...........

A friend of mine has a daughter with diabetes and she recently brought this event to my attention.  Diabetes is touching so many lives, more and more each year and so anything we can do to help these families would be great.

There is a "Dinner for the Stars" being held in Feb 2008.  “Pumps for PatCH” is what they are raising money for. What are Pumps you might say? They are Insulin Pumps and they are used by children and adults who have Juvenile onset Diabetes, known as Type 1 or Insulin Dependent Diabetes.

I will be donating a $500 gift certificate to be auctioned at the event and I ask anyone who is reading this that feels they may have a gift or money to donate to this cause, please give what you can.  They have a website with details about purchasing tickets for the Dinner and also information on how to donate.

Go to:- www.pumpsforpatch.com for all the details.  You may also contact the organiser, Sonia Downie on 6242 7884 or 0412 514 008 for more information.

A clients wall display

Recently I asked a client of mine who had all of her order framed for a wall display to share a picture once everything was up.  She's a good girl and she did just that.  Look how gorgeous this wall looks:-

This display consists of 1-16x20, 2-11x14's, 2-8x10's and 1 Storyboard.  The wall isn't huge but I think this lovely client of mine has made it into the most amazing feature.  They were the loveliest family and it was a joy to photograph their gorgeous boy and this great picture of what they have done with their images makes me very happy.  Thanks for sharing it with me 'T'................

It just goes to show that no matter how small you think your wall spaces are, you can still create the most amazing displays!

Christmas around my house.......

Well I thought it was about time to share a few snaps of some of the Christmasy things around our house.  It takes around 3 days to fully decorate the inside of the house.  All of the pictures on the walls get taken down, every ornament and picture frame gets put away, and it is all replaced with something Christmasy.  I love Christmas and everything that comes with it (except the shopping and the credit card debt LOL).  So I guess I will start with the formal lounge room, it is mainly decorated in cream and gold and the main focus is the beautiful tree.........

This is my most special thing, I bought this santa the first Christmas after my father died (11 years ago) and he is very symbolic to me.  I feel like he watches over us at Christmas to make sure we are safe and happy....

My mother gives me a new ornament each year and this is my all time favourite.....

Moving on to the kitchen/meals area.  There we have the brand new kitchen tree.  She's still a work in progress and needs alot more stuff added but I can see that in the next year or two this tree will be just as wonderful as the others...

And now it's on to the family room.  This room is full of lots of reds and greens and golds.  I love musical ornaments too so my snowglobes and musical stuff is here also.  The kids decorate this tree all by themselves and they just have so much fun.  I try very hard to resist moving stuff around LOL......

The kids Santa Stockings....

Their advent calendar.  They love this calendar so much......

The kids get a new ornament for the tree each year.  This is the one Liv chose....

And this is Fraser's.....

And here I am with my babies.....

My babies..........

We've been ELFED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those that haven't met me in person before, you will be surprised to see how gorgeous I am in this, for those that have met me, then this hot looking woman should come as no surprise LOL:-

Check out my family:-

The Kelly's getting Elfed!

Yep, and we are one great dancing family too.  Turn your speakers on and sit back and enjoy the show, hehehe............