*Erica Joyce Photography* BLOG

Neglected…that’s how this blog feels.  The holidays are always so busy, never a spare moment to be found.  This year was no exception – we have been busy since Thanksgiving – something to do almost every day/night.  So, when things get busy – it is super easy to neglect things that aren’t “pressing” – unfortunately, this blog became that target.

However – things are beginning to look clearer now – and I can see the light at the end of the holiday tunnel!  What a relief!  Normally I am really into the Christmas spirit and I really enjoy the holidays – this year was quite the exception to that as well.  I don’t what it was…actually – I think it is many different things all wrapped-up in a gift just for me.  I just never found my holiday groove – and sort of coasted through this year.  But have no fear – next year – Chrsitmas, yeah – I’m swinging for the fence!

So…remember my post about the movie, “Four Christmases”??? We are SO that couple and once again – Christmas this year very kindly reminded me of that!
It was a good day though – a quiet morning with my loving wife and then, well – you can read more in detail here, on Erica’s blog.
We took a bunch of photos – mostly of the kids – totally consumed by the opening of presents and the contious, ever-lurking question, “is that one for me” or “is that all”???
[deep sigh]…ahh, to be child again.

Oh, hey – I just found out my new Flip Mino HD is shipping today!  What does that have to do with the bog?!?
That means in the near future – you we be so priviledged that you can get an inside view into our lives via this blog and VIDEO!
We have some super-cool, great ideas and some behind the scene videos from a couple shoots planned for next year!  That is only one of the many changes you will see as we move forward into 2009!

So – stay tuned as we move from ‘08 to ‘09 and start a new year off with a bang!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas – and look for our New Year’s eve post soon!

We would like to tell everyone that will listen, “Merry Christmas”!

Spend some quality time with family & friends today and cherish the time you have with them all.

We’ll post back again in a few days & report on the craziness of the holidays!

Last night we had a couple friends over for some great, homemade Italian food.  We made a pot of sauce along with an awesome vodka sauce, (the recipe from my Aunt Lisa in Boston).  All the food was amazing, even though our vodka sauce didn’t stand a chance against Lisa’s!  It was a a very relaxed, laid-back atmosphere, just visiting with friends.  A great night – grade=A+

So now it is down to the wire – just under a week before Christmas.  This is year I have really been lazy about shopping.  Normally I pride myself in being done shopping way before the crowds hit the stores, but not this year.  I guess I haven’t really been in that “Christmas Shopping Mood”.  I typically buy a lot of things online – away from the stores, but once again – not this year.  I am SO blessed to have a wife who doesn’t mind taking on the Christmas shopping responsibility!  So – a couple days to go – and I haven’t even started yet….hmm, definition of “procrastination”?  I think so.

What are you asking for this year…anything special…a nice trip somewhere…some new clothes….photos???  Isn’t strange how all through the year I have all these ideas of things that I “need”, ahmm – “want” and I think, “man, that’d be a great gift for Christmas”….but when December rolls around – I can’t think of thing that I would ask for.  The only thing that I am really wanting this year is the Flip Mino HD.  It’s a really cool, small (cell-phone sized) video recorder that records in HD on it’s internal hard-drive, and then you just whip out the USB dongle on the Flip, plug into your computer and upload the video wherever you want!  Cool, huh?!?  Please Santa – I’ve been SO good this year!

Even Danny made an appearance at our dinner!

OK, now were back on track and the blog is back to a semi-normal state of running itself.

So – the Boston trip – yeah, so many stories to tell and such little time.  Where to start….hmmm, well – first of all, it was great to see my Aunt Lisa & her super-great husband Jim.  They were the absolute best hosts we could have ever imagined.  The have a beautiful home and the perfect family.  We got to spend some great time with my twin-cousins, Jack & Emma, who are only a little over a year old – and let me tell you, those two will keep you entertained!  They are the sweetest kids!

The weather the entire trip, pretty much shut down all plans we had for the week about sight-seeing and such.  It rained almost the whole week, that is, until it was time to leave to come home – even then, I think the high for Saturday was like 30 degrees!  To top off the weather mishaps, Erica caught a 24 hour bug on Wednesday and then I caught the same thing on Thursday, only mine lasted more like 72 hours!  What a mess!

So to say the least, we really didn’t get a chance to take a lot of photos.  We are SO fortunate that we had Jim & Lisa to drive us around the town and show us the sights!  There is SO much to see there – no possible way for to take it all in on one trip – so what does that mean?!? Oh  yeah – we’ll be back!

Here are just a few of the snapshots we captured while we were there, and I know that Erica will post some more on her blog today or tonight – so check those out as well.  I hope you all are having a great week and getting ready for the holidays!  ‘Til next time – happy blogging!

That’s probably what you are thinking about now! I updated the blog software this morning, not realizing that many current imgaes, graphics, fonts & etc… would not be compatible with the new version!

So, if you keep “refreshing” your web-browser you’ll probably see something different each time, as I am working like a crazy-man to get things back to a somewhat “normal” (whatever that is) state!

Also – in case you didn’t figure it out, yes, we’re back from Boston – and we had a great time! More details to follow in another blog post sometime tonight or tomorrow!

10 more days ’til Christmas!