Our Christmas Photos :: Family Photo, Columbus, Ohio

Our Christmas Photos :: Family Photo, Columbus, Ohio

After the holidays this year, I found myself feeling like Christmas entertained me for a minute and then dropped me like a middle school date. You know how it feels. You question the meaning of life and where all the warm, fuzzy feelings have gone.

I went into Christmas very determinately trying to avoid this sweep of post-Christmas blues. I tried to focus specifically on the Catholic liturgical calendar, which so beautifully waxes and wanes in and out of seasons of preparation and celebration. Despite my efforts, I found that I slipped again!

Don't get me wrong, we get into celebrating at the Magree house. But, I may have watched one too many Hallmark movies, ate one too many Christmas cookies, and definitely, definitely bought Edith too many gifts (...not feeling guilty about this, though. Who knew how fun it would be to buy kids presents at Christmas..!!) And when it was time for it all to end, I had a hard time letting go.

It wasn't really until I let the sound of the celebration die down that the silent and humble whisper of the everyday caught my attention. I remembered once again how good life is when it wanes back into simplicity.

So, today, I'm posting photos of my two best reminders of the goodness God gives me.

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MacKenzie + Joe :: Wedding Photo, Columbus, Ohio

MacKenzie + Joe :: Wedding Photo, Columbus, Ohio

If you would like to know more about me, this story will help. Two things: (1) I hate cleaning and (2) I like it when things are clean because I'm neurotic [internal conflict meter alarm blaring]: 

I don't like cleaning bathrooms. I really don't. My husband doesn't either. So, when it comes to that terrible, dreaded, wow-its-been-a-month moment and it's my turn, I have to gear myself up to get in there and do it.

So, this time, I went to the dollar store and bought a squeegee. Why, you ask? Well, have you ever used a squeegee? It's the most satisfying thing. The nice, straight streaks that separate the clean from the dirty. So, I knew that if I had the squeegee I could look forward to cleaning the bathroom in order to see all the clean streaks of mirror, and we have a pretty wide stretch of mirror in our 70s-built bathroom. So, it worked. The bathroom cleaning was bad, but I did it because I wanted to see the clean streaks.

Cha-ching! Behavioral therapy, people.

So, if you can't relate to this story, I'm sorry you've read it and you're probably concerned about me. Don't be. I'll drink decaf coffee and it'll even things out.

If that story reveals anything about me, the photos of this group are even more telling of their fun-loving and hearty character. It was a blast to be with them to celebrate.

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Mauro Family Photo :: Family Photo, Columbus, Ohio

Mauro Family Photo :: Family Photo, Columbus, Ohio

Alright. I'm admitting to a dweeb (see definition) moment: I'm going through a poetry phase. Yes, it's true. And, unlike my [more] insecure high-school self, I'm totally unafraid of admitting it.

Photographing all of these families this fall has renewed my awe and wonder at marriage and family. It's caused a good bit of thinking on the integral and irreplaceable role they have in society. So, without further ado, a does of poetry for this beautifully Christmas-y Tuesday:

:: SONNET 116 ::

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds, 
Or bends with the remover to remove. 
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken; 
It is the star to every wand'ring bark, 
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. 
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come; 
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 
But bears it out even to the edge of doom. 
If this be error and upon me prov'd, 
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

Enjoy, 

Rachel

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Hartman Family Photo :: Family Photography, Columbus, Ohio

Hartman Family Photo  :: Family Photography, Columbus, Ohio

Two weeks ago I went to see my nieces and nephew in the play "The Distracted Scholar's Guide to Literature and Drama". It was amazing and hilarious for a couple of reasons. First, the play is super very cute and very witty. (Who doesn't want to see Frankestein and Pride and Prejudice mashed together?) Second, I was in jaw-drop mode the entire time because my nieces and nephew seemed to be 45 years old! So grown up! It was wonderful and I was in tears the whole time (part catharsis, mainly just female emotion).

Anyhow, it all happened because the family in these photos directed the play. It was wonderful! The whole time I was there the little one in the front with the amazing stare was like, "that lady took our pictures!!!" I'm glad the awe is mutual.

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Thanksgiving at Saddle Path

Thanksgiving at Saddle Path

Thanksgiving competes for my favorite day of the year. It is a sensational climax. Every year when I was little, I would wake up to spiced and sweet smells wafting from the kitchen and the buttery croons of Nat King Cole or one of the other Christmastime greats gently serenading my mom as she'd be pinching pie crusts. I don't wonder why I'm so sentimental.

A while ago, with kids having kids and friends becoming family, Thanksgiving at my parents house started to burst at the seems. We were past adding chairs to tables - we had to add tables to rooms. This is when it started to get really good. We'd all pray, eat the meal together and sip wine until we all brimmed over with goodness. And just when we couldn't take any more in, we'd all get quiet, and start to let the gratitude spill out. There from our chairs we'd go around and each one, from the mashed potato covered little ones to grandmas and grandpas, would say the thing we'd been most thankful for that year.

The things would range from homes bought and sold to babies born to pumpkin pie. But last year was an especially good year for thanksgivings. It was a happy heart - that my mom over half way through her chemotherapy and seemingly reborn into joy, it was my much prayed for and finally achieved pregnancy. It was my people: my little wide-eyed Edy Clare and my best friend and super man husband who cares for me so I can care for her. Oh, a full and happy heart. 

And this year I'm all filled up with thanksgivings again. A just-right-for-us home to call our little corner of the world, a furnace that (mostly) works, siblings we call friends, a church community that pushes us to Jesus, a country where we can be free to pursue Truth ardently. For my Edy Clare. For my husband. 

So, you can bet that I'll be in my kitchen with Nat King Cole tomorrow, spreading all that sensational, magical Thanksgiving Day gratitude around my home, just like my mom did. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you. May your hearts and stomachs be full!

Rachel

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