Christmas in CA = Sunsets and Starfish

Morro Bay, California

Merry Christmas!

I am currently sitting in my parents Big Room (we call it that cause it's the biggest room in the house) writing this blog while listening to Christmas music, watching the rain fall outside and listening to my family talk in the other room. Mom is in the kitchen finishing the Monkey Bread for breakfast. My older sister is still in the room sleeping. It's a typical Collins Family Christmas.

I have been home for Christmas morning every year of my 23 year life. While we've grown older, and the traditions have changed slightly, they are still all the same. Every year on Christmas Eve we go to church where my family plays the Christmas Carols on their various instruments. Then we come home to make the Monkey Bread for breakfast the next morning. This year we changed that. At some point during the Christmas season we always watch White Christmas together. Seeing as last night was the first night we were all together we did that.

On Christmas Eve my dad also always reads the Christmas story from Luke and Matthew. When we were little us girls used to act out the story with the nativity figures, however, we cancelled that particular tradition a few years ago. Last night us 3 girls got to read the story. After reading the story we always open one present - pajamas. We all go change into our new pjs and settled down for the rest of the night, which last night was watching White Christmas.

Christmas morning consists of everyone slowly waking up and drinking their coffee around the fire place. Eventually when everyone's awake, we'll cut into the Monkey Bread and start the present opening. The rest of the day is spent playing new games, listening to new music and just enjoying one another's company.

Most Christmases go on without a hitch, however, there have been years with some "exciting" stories. Like the year my younger sister got a basketball hoop. It was the last present opened so all of us in our pjs went outside to see it. My dad has the camera and about 10 seconds after we're all outside in the 45 degree weather he says "Jim (my uncle) did you shut the door?" Yep. It locks from the inside if you forget to turn the knob. The rest of the video is filled with laughter as we realize that all of our neighbors with keys are out of town and all of our doors are locked. Luckily my sister was small enough to crawl under the garage door to unlock us, but it took some convincing.

What are your Christmas traditions? Any funny anecdotes you can share with us?

Amy & Eric

A few months back I got the opportunity to photograph Amy Wright in my bathtub. A few days later, I got to photograph Amy Wright and Eric Johnson on my porch. And a few months later I got to photograph Mr. and Mrs. Johnson at their wedding reception!! 
Congrats Amy and Eric!!!

Plastic Surgery - Website Style

Tuesday was a fun day. Well, the end result was exciting, but I can't say the day itself was exciting. You see, Dave and myself spent all day Tuesday updating our website. It was a LONG process. Dave has been writing the code for the site for quite a few weeks now and he even stayed up until midnight on Tuesday getting everything ready! After the very very long day of plastic surgery, our website is finally up and running. It wasn't a complete make over, but definitely a little nip and tuck!
Check it out:
www.photo-edge.com

Joys of living in a small town

I've mentioned it before, but I absolutely love living in the small town of Waxhaw, NC. Especially on days when there is a parade! Growing up I never liked parades. Probably because I had to be in them and when you reach a certain age, that's just not cool anymore. Now, however, I look forward to every little parade in Waxhaw. The most recent being the Waxhaw Christmas Parade. There's nothing like the giant vacuum balloon being pulled behind a truck!!
To see pictures check out fellow photographer Rolf Loken.

After the parade, Dave and I got to hang out at the fire station with Santa and all the little kids for "Snacks with Santa".

Why NOT?!?

Sometimes in life a better question than "Why?" is "Why NOT?!?" That's what myself and 2 friends said Friday night at Kami's around 9 pm when the idea to drive to Charleston was brought up. After double checking the calendar, we left my house at 9:45pm with only ourselves, gas in the car, cash in the wallets and adventure on our minds!!! After arriving at 1:30am we spent the night in the "luxurious" Red Roof Inn with the cockroach, woke up the next morning, showered, threw on the same clothes and took a 3 hour tour of Charleston before heading back home. 
There's a lot to be said for spontaneity and taking advantage of the time you have and your season in life!