The Moments in Between & a Minted Giveaway

There are many holiday traditions that make this time of year one of my absolute favorites. The significance of it being a time to celebrate and enjoy the people in our lives has never been clearer to me, especially as we prepare to spend this Christmas in New York City without anyone else around. Just the five of us, spending our last Christmas as Manhattan residents cozy and tucked away in the warm light of our home amongst the concrete towers.

This year, particularly the last couple of weeks, really brought our family together. The hairline fractures in our external glass shell have been fused for a long, long time. Perhaps forever. Of course there’s a bit of sadness knowing that we’ll be “alone” for the holidays, but I’m also looking forward to celebrating each other, especially as we wrap up this stint in our lives as New Yorkers. That, we have earned.

In the days before Hurricane Sandy, I had loosely put together a family photo shoot with one of my favorite photographers, Ali Smith. Ali is getting ready to publish her photo book, Momma Love (do yourself a favor and take a peek), as well as being the talent behind my past two header photos.

I had a sort of off-the-wall vision for this particular shoot: I wanted it to be beautiful but real, glamorous with a touch of mundane. Not the sort of cocktail of characteristics that usually describe a Holiday Photo shoot, but I’m really living in a do-or-die sort of mentality lately. Go all in, or don’t bother at all. So we went for it.

I arranged for the boys to wear matching Appaman Fine Tailoring Mod suits that I have been drooling over for years. Appaman is a local Brooklyn company that is run by Lynn and Harald Husum, a husband and wife team. It is the brand of choice for my boys, as it is all very cute and well made clothing. The suits are even better in person!

Zoe’s dress from one of my favorite designers for little girls, LunaLuna Copenhagen. I found this dress on their website and got a great discount on it (win/win!). I have a ton of fun dressing them-especially when I get to be the creative director for all of my own editorial. Lucky me.

Before we headed to the laundry room in our building for the actual photo shoot, we let the kids play around outside a bit to get loosened up a little.

The following photos were taken by Ali Smith.

My vision was all about enjoying all the moments that happen in between significant milestones, events, Monday and Friday… Because those are the ones that make up our lives whether we’re happy about it or not. Maybe this will help me to remember the days when the kids used to play in the laundry carts in our NYC apartment building. They absolutely loved it, every single time.

We picked a photo and I went to Minted to create our holiday photo cards. It was very difficult to pick one photo (literally, it took us days to decide), and I had no less than 15 different saved designs when it came down to decision time. Minted’s website is so easy to use, and there are a ton of tasteful, beautiful and original designs to choose from… Lots of New Years and Holiday cards especially, of course.

In the end, we compromised. I used our favorite photo from our shoot with Ali, as well as a great shot of the kids that was captured in our hotel room during the hurricane. The option of two photos made for a much easier decision.

… And on the back:

I’m so happy with the way they turned out, even if the laundry room was a bit out there. Photography is one of my favorite things ever. It’s an art form that I appreciate more and more, as well as being a very cathartic and fun hobby for me personally. I truly loved being able to tie in many of the things I love the most into this project, and have beautiful memories, and cards, to keep forever.

Win It

I am thrilled to offer a giveaway of a $100 gift code to Minted.com so that one of you can order cards as well!

To Enter:

Leave a comment telling me your favorite holiday tradition.

Extra entries:

Share this contest on Facebook.
“Like” Momma Love by Ali Smith on Facebook
“Like” Minted on Facebook
“Like” Appaman on Facebook.

Please leave a separate comment for each completed entry.

This post was supposed to go up last week, but due to complications from Hurricane Irene I wasn’t able to publish. Therefore, the contest will be a FAST one so that you can order your cards with plenty of time!

Sweepstakes will run from today, November 12th until Sunday night, November 18th at midnight, EST. Good luck!

UPDATE: Winner Announcement:

Congratulations to Nicole Alas! Winner was chosen randomly via And The Winner Is, a WordPress plugin. Thank you to everyone who entered!

I was not compensated for this post. I received a set of cards from Minted, and the boy’s suits from Appaman for purposes of this review/post. All opinions are my own.