2024 Holiday Portraits of Grayson & Adelaide

One of the best parts of being a photographer is that I have built annual traditions around new portraits for my own two children. Each year, we capture their birthday portraits, 4th of July photos, and holiday portraits too! It’s special to me to be able to look back and really see how they grow & change. I love that I am able to watch all of that unfold year by year because of these specific traditions. 

This year, we had a big first: Grayson was missing his front teeth in portraits! (“Alexa, play ‘All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!’”). It’s hard to believe we’re already at the age of missing teeth and gummy smiles for my big guy! His sister is growing up so fast too. Even though she showed off her favorite pigtails, Adelaide looks so grown and I can hardly believe how fast time feels like it’s flying. 

We did our traditional holiday setup, plus portraits with Santa. (Check out more holiday & santa portraits of my clients here and here). I’m so happy that we captured both setups for them. I loved being able to capture their matching pajamas (who knows how much longer that will last?!) and then more cozy inspired winter outfits. Grayson and Adelaide were great sports, and I think we managed to capture some truly tender moments between them - which I know, as their mom, I’ll love for years to come. 

Like me, my children love the holidays. I wanted to share a few holiday traditions we are enjoying this year with you. Perhaps you’ll find one that you want to include in your own family! 

1. Our daily stocking calendar.

2. Cookie decorating!

3. Visiting family on Cape Cod and playing with the cousins.

4. Lots of picnic dinners under the Christmas tree.

5. Reading so many holiday books.

6. Seeing what fun little gifts Grayson picks out for everyone at his school’s holiday gift market. Last year was his first year doing this in kindergarten, and seeing the Hot Wheels car he came home with for Adelaide was too cute!

7. Visiting Santa Claus at his cottage on Broadway in Saratoga Springs.

8. The Victorian Streetwalk in downtown Saratoga.

9. Hanging up all of our friends' and family’s holiday cards.

10. Enjoying lots of Christmassy scents in our wax warmer all season long.

No matter how you celebrate the season, we’re sending you so much love. Have a beautiful holiday!

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Our 2023 Holiday Portrait Sessions in Saratoga Springs

I always look forward to our holiday portrait event, and this year was no exception! Each year, I am reminded of how lucky I am to have so many families that come to the studio year after year for their holiday portraits! It’s always a joy getting to catch up with them and see how their kids have grown. Plus, it’s so much fun coming up with our setups each year! Honestly, I really do look forward to these holiday portrait sessions each winter. 

For this year, I wanted to create something really special! When I first saw these golden arches I knew that they would be incredibly versatile and that they would look gorgeous with garland & some sparkly ornaments. I love how this turned out! I think it’s such a classic holiday look. It was the perfect spot for kids to warm up to me and get ready for more portraits!

We always create two setups in the studio for families to have some variety in their holiday portraits, and you know I’m a big fan of neutrals because of how timeless they are. This year I found the perfect stockings with little pearl accents, and I love the simple & luxurious touch that they added to our setup alongside my simple Christmas tree. 

To every family that came to celebrate the holidays with me this year, thank you! It was so special to have you in the studio and I hope you have a wonderful season with your loved ones! 

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Our favorite holiday tradition: our felt stocking Christmas calendar

Today, I want to share something our family does every year during the holidays: a felt stocking Christmas calendar. This was all inspired by a photo a few years ago in Real Simple magazine, created by A Beautiful Mess. Now it’s one of our favorite traditions! 

I made our felt stocking calendar in 2020.  That was the year that everything shut down and we all readjusted our priorities and dug deep into new & old hobbies.  I sewed each stocking and embroidered little details onto them to make each one unique.  I felt like I was tapping into my childhood years of sewing projects for this one, and I spent many November nights at the dining room table working on these little stockings so that we would have them ready in time for December that year.  Making these was very fulfilling and I loved knowing that this was going to become a core childhood memory and a magical holiday tradition for our family.

Starting on December 1, each stocking holds a little treat, trinket, or note with an activity on it.  We do one stocking each day from December 1 through December 24.  I don’t fill them all up at once because I have a four year old who would peek ahead and spoil the surprise, but I do keep a list of what I want to put in them so that I know and can do it quickly without too much effort.  Most of what we do are little holiday activities that do not take much prep or time, and every now and then I will include a treat or a toy.  Tossing in a chocolate or two is a super easy one if I do not have time for an activity that day!  If the items do not fit inside the stockings, I use a clothespin to pin them to the back side of the stocking.

I do this instead of Elf on the Shelf because I wanted to start a tradition that was extra special to our family, and one that would let me make lots of fun holiday memories with our little ones.  Also because the idea of moving an elf into different spots and creating scenes for him every single night for 10-15 years is completely overwhelming to me, but sprinkling fun and traditional holiday activities and joy throughout the month of December is much more fulfilling to me.

Because of this, my four-year old LOVES “Christmastime” and he understands that there is a difference between Christmas Day and Christmastime.  He spends all year looking back through our photo albums and flipping through the pages filled with activities from previous Decembers, and as winter approaches he asks me what I think we’ll find in the stockings this year.  He knows that “Mama does the little stockings but Santa does the big stockings”, and I love that I am able to pass my love of the holiday season on to him – and eventually on to our daughter when she is old enough to understand, too!

‌Here are some of my favorite items and activities that we’ve included in stockings for our countdown to Christmas.

‌Trinkets/Treats:

●      Wooden Christmas cars

●      New hat & mittens

●      Silly holiday glasses from the dollar store

●      Candy cane

●      Hershey kisses

●      Andes mints

●      Tiny snow globe

●      Decorated holiday cookie

Activities:

●      Visit the Christmas tree farm

●      Go watch the holiday trains at Sunnyside Gardens

●      Go to the Victoria Streetwalk

●      Bake Christmas cookies

●      Bring Christmas cookies to a neighbor/friend

●      Make a gingerbread house

●      Go see Christmas lights

●      Have a picnic in front of the Christmas tree

●      Drink hot cocoa in front of the fireplace

●      Hang twinkle lights in their bedroom

●      Make Christmas pancakes

●      Wrap presents

●      Pick out a gift for someone special

●      Visit the library to pick out holiday books

●      Do a Christmas craft/painting

●      Mail holiday cards

●      Have a holiday music dance party

●      Walk through the Christmas aisles at Target

●      Write/Mail a letter to Santa

●      Visit with Santa

●      Paint a holiday project at the ceramics shop in town

●      FaceTime a friend and sing Christmas carols together

●      Make a Christmas ornament and hang it on the tree

●      Watch a Christmas movie together‌

I hope that no matter what your traditions are that you have a beautiful holiday season with your loved ones!! 

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2022 Holiday Sessions in Saratoga Springs

Happy holidays!! I’m so excited to share a little sneak peek into our holiday sessions this year. I was so happy to see a lot of repeat families this year, and I love when they visit the studio year after year for their holiday portraits. It’s so much fun watching the kids grow, and this year I loved when the children walked in and asked right away about the toy corner and told me, “I remember this toy! We played with this last time!”. It’s seriously such a special moment for me each time a family comes back to my studio. 

The all white studio is so versatile for these classic holiday portraits, and I keep adding to our furniture collection of chairs, benches, and loveseats with linen upholstery and weathered wood.  Every year I add more trees or greenery, and I love how it all comes together so beautifully and I can mix and match furniture, wreaths, and trees across the setups while still keeping everything classic and minimal with the focus on the family and not too overwhelming with props. This year, I created three different setups. 

The one I was most excited about was a collaboration with a talented local floral designer, Samantha Nass Floral Design.  She absolutely nailed the design with the inspiration photos that I sent her and incorporated the most beautiful greenery, winter stems, and a hint of red flowers.  

I’ve been wanting to do another giant wreath setup.  The last time I did an oversized wreath was in 2017, but since then I’ve refined my studio style and I am in love with flocked evergreens, so a flocked wreath with frosted berries mixed in was just the perfect look for the studio.  This was so much fun for some casual family & sibling portraits, and the perfect spot for fun Christmas pajamas!

I added the ornament wall the day before our sessions began when I saw that we had enough room for one more simple setup.  I love everything in muted neutrals like gold and champagne, and this wound up being a favorite setup for just about every family! I love that I have the flexibility and space to do that for families in the studio. 

Happy holidays! I hope everyone has a cozy year with their loved ones. 

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Grayson's 2021 Holiday Portraits

You’d think that as a photographer, I’d spend more time getting my son in the studio for portraits than I actually do. It’s hard to balance motherhood and the business some days, but I’m grateful for the memories I make with Grayson every day. He’s a great little studio helper - and was wonderful with me while I setup all of our holiday minis this year. I made sure to capture his holiday portraits, as impromptu as it was, this year.

I’ll be honest: taking photos of a fiercely independent 3.5 year old is much harder than taking portraits of a baby, but it’s so much fun to spend time with my little guy and capture what he’s loving about the season. Grayson was excited to wear his “fancy Christmas photo clothes” and he got to listen to Frosty the Snowman on repeat on Alexa during our session together. Like many parents, I bribed him with snacks from my snack cart - and it worked! Grayson was all smiles and giggles for me. Although it might have been trickier than years past, I’m so pleased with the portraits I captured of my son this holiday season! I hope they bring a smile to your face, too! :o)

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2021 Holiday Portraits in our Saratoga Springs Photography Studio

Holiday portrait sessions are some of my favorite moments to capture in our Saratoga Springs studio! I wait all year long for these days to arrive because they’re always so much fun and filled with joy. This year, I chose to offer three new setups for holiday portraits. We had a white snowflake room, evergreen seamless paper with a loveseat for the family and some flocked trees and a holiday bed. Everyone LOVED getting in the holiday spirit here in the studio.

I welcomed lots of longtime clients and families to the studio over our holiday sessions. It was so great to see everyone again and catch up. I also had the chance to meet plenty of new families too. I’m so excited to have been part of their holiday tradition this year!

Thank you to every family that chose to come celebrate with me this year. Here’s a little sneak peek at some of my favorite holiday moments in the studio this year!!

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A Peek at Some of This Year's Custom Holiday Card Designs - Saratoga Springs Portrait Photographer

Tis the season to run to your mailbox and tear open the envelopes to see so many smiling faces inside!

I always love sharing a peek at some of the holiday cards that families are sending out with portraits from their sessions with me, and here are a few that are hitting mailboxes all over the country this year!

I really enjoy designing and printing holiday cards for families, and the options for customizing really are endless! A few things that you get to choose when designing your holiday cards?

• fully customizable templates

• change the colors & font & text

• choose how many images for the back of the card

• choose from 3 types of paper

• multiple envelope styles

• return address printing is included

• the option to add on recipient address printing

And my favorite card of all? Ours! Check out how adorable Grayson is on this one!

Sneak Peek of Our Holiday Mini Sessions with Saratoga Springs Baby Photographer

It was another magical year of holiday mini sessions at our Saratoga Springs portrait studio! I look forward to these Christmas sessions every year. I love seeing the babies & children all dressed up in their holiday plaid, fancy dresses, sweaters, and bowties, and it’s always so much fun watching them cuddle up in their cozy holiday pajamas, too!

Here’s a little peek at some of my favorite portraits from our 2019 holiday sessions. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do, and as always, a huge thank you to all of the families for trusting me to capture these beautiful memories for their families this winter!

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2018 Holiday Sessions

It’s my favorite time of year! The studio has been filled with twinkly lights, Christmas trees, and plaid accents for weeks now, and holiday music has been playing nonstop on the Alexa. Santa gets mentioned at least once every session, a couple of jingle bells have been my go-to trick to get little ones to look at the camera.

That can only mean one thing…

It’s time to share a peek into our 2018 HOLIDAY SESSIONS!

We did sessions in both the Saratoga Springs & Attleboro studios, and so many families joined us for lots of festive portraits. As the years go by I tend to favor simpler backdrops that keep the focus on the family with just a touch of festive cheer. This year we had a bit of a farmhouse touch to our holiday backdrops inspired by some Joanna Gaines decor — boxwood wreaths, plaid throws, a rustic hand painted sign, and a wooden ladder, yes please!

All of the families brought their A-game in CUTENESS! So many Christmas cuddles and lots of adorable smiles!

The More the Merrier! A Peek at our Holiday Sessions | Saratoga Springs and Boston Family Photographer

I love Christmas.  Every year I look forward to the holiday season because it is filled with twinkly lights, delicious aromas, cozy family traditions, and so much festivity everywhere you look. 

That's why our holiday sessions are always some of my favorite sessions of the year here at our studio.  So many families come and visit, and many are families that I have photographed for years, plus there are always a few new families that I'm excited to meet, too!  This year we did holiday portraits with families in Saratoga Springs and in Boston (at our Attleboro studio), and it was so much fun creating a little holiday magic with these babies and children!

Our set-ups were simple & classic this year:

A fluffy red and white bed that was adorable with Christmas pajamas.
And a huge wreath filled with twinkly lights for some family portraits.  

CUTENESS OVERLOAD with these adorable twins!!

We're planning limited edition holiday sessions!

These two gorgeous backdrops just arrived to the studio, and we can't wait to start using them for our holiday sessions!  We're excited to offer two weekends of holiday sessions, one for our New York families and one for our Massachusetts families!  These are the ONLY dates that we will be offering holiday sessions in the studio.

Attleboro, Massachusetts
Saturday, October 29
Sunday, October 30

Saratoga Springs, NY
Saturday, November 5
Sunday, November 6

Here's are sneak peeks of both sets that we'll be offering -- aren't they adorable?!?!

Full details and session reservation details
will be coming your way on
Monday, October 3!

Mark your calendar!