Remembering Christmas

I found an article {you might have read it already} about a mom's 18 point contract with her 13 yo son over his iPhone. The contract in general makes beautiful, if startlingly rare, sense, but that's not what I latched on to.

It's her 13th point, about not taking 'a zillion pictures.' She says There is no need to document everything. Live your experiences. They will be stored in your memory.

I thought about her advice as I looked through my Christmas pictures. Nearly two weeks of family fun and approximately twelve pictures. None with DH's side of the family, which is especially odd because that side boasts two professional photographers and at least five DSLR cameras among us.

But I literally couldn't find the time. We were playing on the floor or talking or scheming at cards or cooking or giggling or a million other more important things. Things I will remember and enjoy in the file cabinet of my mind. They will never find a scrapbook page, but whenever we get together, this Christmas is one more family experience that we draw from.

I love photos. I love taking them, especially the random moments. As long as the camera doesn't own me. As long as the picture is a tool, not a crutch. Because sometimes, I find myself remembering the picture, not the event. And sometimes all I remember is my view finder, not the fun. Those pictures aren't worth it.

If you're not a photographer, if your kids' wedding slide show will be 30 seconds long, and you've never bothered to sign up for instagram, you haven't cheated your kids or your memory or missed your big life moments. They simply aren't on film. Neither are 99% of human history's most important moments.

If you join me in the photographer category, keep snapping art and sharing {your kids' slide show might need serious editing, however}. The scrapbook or the blog post doesn't make life legitimate, just documented. Our lives find importance through the people in those pictures.

Now I contradict my own post {as I frequently do} with the handful of Christmas pictures:

Sporting Momma and Auntie Em's reindeer antlers

He's an angry elf 

Reading the Nativity with PopPop on Christmas Eve - Momma's favorite part of Christmas

Favorite 'present' Christmas morning - camping with Nana on the living room floor