Christmas and Birthday Pictures #NikonMOMents

I spent a good deal of the holidays in the kitchen. Family dinners and my boy child’s birthday party! Through it all, I was the Mom paparazzi; capturing family photos and keeping childhood picture souvenirs…

Having to organize Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and a kid’s birthday party over the holidays requires organization. I had lists about lists! And I was sure to keep the kids busy at the same time. So Christmas Eve morning, we set to work enjoying some awesome family time baking cookies and birthday cakes.

 

 

And the goodies paid off. The desserts were a plenty. And making them ahead was a great sanity saver. And really, when you are in “Christmas mode” it is really hard to wrap your head around making a birthday cake – so baking it ahead and putting the cake in the fridge was awesome. (TEASER: birthday cake picture below…)

And though baking with kids is a ton of fun…it almost always results in a messy kid. My fix? Fill the bathroom sink up with water and dish soap and have them “wash” measuring cups. This was a great incentive for my son to wash his cookie-batter-ed-hands, offered an opportunity for some water play, and kept him out of my kitchen while I cleaned the counter.

As you know, I’ve been working with the #NikonMOMents program this year, and these photos taken with my Nikon HDSLR D3300 with a 35 mm lens have really proven to me that a quality camera makes all the difference in capturing family moments. I love the detail of our Christmas and birthday pictures. Just look at the detail which was picked up in our Christmas pictures…

Oh the stockings hand made by my favourite aunt…they are so special to me.

My son calls these “sweet kisses”.

Another aunt’s famous Cream Puffs…none left to share 😉

And of course we put out cookies for Santa…and carrots for the reindeer. But then, before you know it…it was time for the BIRTHDAY CAKE!

We made a Dino-train cake! We used a train cake pan and a 9 in circle cake pan. My kids don’t like frosting so we decorated with smarties and kisses. Then, we took our herd of dinosaurs (washed them with soap before of course) and put them around the cake. My son LOVED it.

 

And this picture…my daughter took. Because of the amazing resolution of the Nikon I cropped what was actually a picture which included a staircase, table and hallway into a portrait picture. It’s a bit bright…but the holidays are meant to shine n’est pas?…

Disclosure: I am part of the Mom Central Canada Nikon MOMents team and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.