Fields of Green: Season

I love the term "holiday season." It means that this holiday is so special we can't celebrate it in just one day, no, we need a whole season of celebrating and enjoying and merry-making. Best of all, we get to see loved ones who while they might not live so near, they are very dear to our hearts.

Our celebrating got a kickstart about a week and a half ago when we got just a very brief visit with my aunt and my cousins last Sunday. We drove up to my grandparents' house, ate lunch, caught up, talked about the crazy New York high school application process, exchanged gifts, and ate cookies. Could it have been any better? Only if we'd had more time.

I am always a little teary when my little cousins drive away, probably in part because they aren't so very little these days. I looked at my aunt at one point and said, "Oh my gosh. You have a teenager!" I literally have no idea how that is even possible. She just laughed at me. My cousins are sweet and fun and funny, and best of all? They are amazing with babies. Bean and Sweet Pea just adore them to pieces, and you can bet that Bean's little chin trembled for quite some time after her beloved cousins began their trip home.

But we'll take what we can get, and count it as precious time and memories made with loved ones we hold dear!

See? This picture makes me teary. Don't tell him.

Sweet Pea LOVES this new toy! And how appropos that my aunt the chef and baker would give her her first kitchen. :)

If I had the time, I would have edited this pictures and probably gone black and white. I was working with very low light and not a great lens, so cut me some slack. Clearly, I already cut myself some slack. This is just an example though of a time when the memory the photo inspires matters more to me than the photo's artistic qualities.