My twin sister! |Gilbert Family Photographer

My twin and I laughed as we both had our shoots at the very end of my crazy shooting season. There were several times we joked about skipping holiday cards and aiming for a Happy New Year card...it honestly seems like things were never going to work out.

But, they did. And I couldn't think of a better family to end the holiday season with.

My twin. My better half. My hero. She is one on the list of my everythings.

Without her, I truly think I would be lost.

And her husband. I have a long list of happy stories with him. Starting with the first time I met him...private silly story. And one year when he spent Valentine's Day with me. Why? Because I had just come out of a relationship and was heart broken. My sister Pam, was needing to spend Valentine's weekend studying for a huge exam, and she had him drive from Tucson to spend the day with me.

The funny part of this story, starts with...

my BIL is a French Canadian. When they met, he was in the country on a visa and coaching hockey. While in his country, he grew up attending an all French school and didn't learn English until he was older. Although his English was good, there were still several English words and terms that he didn't understand. And, during our day together we saw a movie...Something About Mary. Now, if you remember this movie...it's filled with hysterical phrases, most he didn't understand. Occasionally through the movie, he would lean over and ask questions on things he didn't understand. Needless to say, the movie was cracking me up but Ron almost had me in stitches with the questions he was asking in his heavy accent.

I truly love this man!

I love my sister even more.

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On a personal note...

today my kids and I spent a few hours at the mall trying to be productive but had more fun. Our trip to the mall had a couple goals. One of which was to visit the angel tree and chose a child to buy for. It's ultra important for me to raise my kids to be giving...in generousity of soul and helping others.

After chosing a child to buy for, Cashlyn asked what I was doing. I tried to explain to her that there are families that are struggling with work, health and other tragedies. A result of their struggles, there are children that probably won't have presents under there tree. As I was explaining this to her, I couldn't help but get choked up. Not holding back tears of pity (as I don't believe in pity), but from that very moment that I was sharing a special gift with her. The gift of generousity and the reasoning behind it.

That it means more to give to others than to receive. That giving to others is where happiness lies.

And talking about the feeling her mommy gets when I give to others. Then when I hear her try to relate by saying how happy she feels when she shares toys with her sister. I tried hard to keep the tears from rolling down my cheeks as I hugged her and telling her "yes, it feels good doesn't it."

Today was a good day. And it was just one more day that I remember how blessed I am.