christmas

i’ve struggled all day with what to write here. truth be told, i haven’t been up for writing much lately (hence the sparse presence on the blog). and spending the morning in the dentist chair hasn’t helped inspire any creativity (seriously – who goes to the dentist on christmas eve?).

christmas is weird. don’t get me wrong, i love it. like, LOVE IT. but it comes with a lot of mixed emotions, mixed motives, mixed nuts (haha)…and while i enjoy going to parties and love giving and receiving gifts and decorating and all of the other sweet things that come along with this season, christmas also holds much deeper meaning for me.

now i know this blog is about my business. but the reality is that it’s also about me because my “business” is me and when you hire “sharalee prang photography”, you get me. you get the dorkiness and the strange sense of style, but you also get (i trust) the hope, the joy and the love that are inside of me because they’ve been given to me to share. i rejoice with you as you take those first steps down the aisle as a married couple…i see and experience the hope in your eyes as you dream of all the things your sweet child will one day become…and i love you. not to creep you out or anything, but i do! that’s the reason i’m able to do what i do. and that is why/how i celebrate christmas. i know that sacrifices were made in order for me to fully live and to love others. which is also why i can grieve with those of you who are experiencing pain and brokenness and unmet expectations. it’s an miraculous thing, love is. so good and so hard.

so as i sit here in my little home thinking of you and your families settling in for the evening and the sound of my crazy children laughing trickles up from downstairs, i can’t help but say, “thank you jesus. for your sacrifice and for your love. and sorry too. that i get caught up in the frenzy and i forget. thanks for meeting me in the midst of it and gently reminding me why i’m here. to love like you did.”

a little insight as to where i’m at today.

and since i’d rather not suck every last drop of christmas spirit and leave you completely depressed on christmas eve, i will leave you with this. this is the sixth instalment in a pretty impressive collection of horrid santa photos(and no, it wasn’t simon’s birthday). merry christmas with love…