Every night, my husband and I take turns reading Christmas books to Dannica. There really isn’t anything sweeter or more tender than being curled up with your little babe under a thick blanket with a good book. Our hearts beat slower, time slows down, and the big, big world becomes small and cozy. It is such a delicious feeling, and for some reason, storytime doesn’t feel this warm and fuzzy in any other season. We of course have our classical favorites, but we have discovered so many wonderful new Christmas books that I just had to share them with you.

1. Pick A Pine Tree–an ABSOLUTE MUST. Adorable little story about picking and decorating a Christmas tree. Stunning illustrations. This is Dannica’s FAVORITE.

2. When Santa Was A Baby–Short story about how Santa became who he is today. Again, stunning illustrations, and such a fun read for children to see how Santa grew up.

3. First Snow–A great beginner’s book about how to build a snowman. Truly stunning illustrations and I personally adore the small Korean touches in the illustrations.

4. Olivia Helps With Christmas–One of Dannica’s favorite storybook character, Olivia here “helps” out with Christmas!

5. The Little Reindeer–How a small child goes through a Christmas Eve adventure! GORGEOUS illustrations and fun little cutouts.

6. The Wish Tree–How a little boy sets out to find the Wish Tree with the help of some woodland friends.

7. Samurai Santa–Lots of ninja (and snowball) fun with a surprising twist at the very end! 🙂

8. Little Blue Truck’s Christmas–Fun Christmas rendition of the Little Blue Truck’s series. Dannica especially loves the twinkly lights at the very end!

9. Don’t Push The Button! A Christmas Adventure–Dannica loves the original book and this one is just as much fun!

I hope these books add lots of Christmas cheer to your home, and have your young ones’ embrace all things holiday that much more!

If people ask me what my most valuable possession is, I will not hesitate to say that they are my family photos and albums. From all the big events like my wedding day or Dannica’s first step to all the tiny yet equally important events like the face Dannica made when she had her first broccoli, I want to document them all and make sure that I never forget them. It’s such a paradox because as much as I love photos and taking them, I have a hard time being in photos. A part of it is because I am painfully awkward when someone takes a photo of me (who isn’t right?! Am I smiling too much? What do I do with my hands?! Where am I looking?), but a larger part of it is because I am such a control freak about how I want each photo to be taken that I don’t trust anyone but myself to do it!

D’Ann’s unbelievably breathtaking backyard.

When I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to have Dannica’s newborn photos as well as our family photos taken professionally. I thank my lucky stars that I met D’Ann from Smitten & Swoon. We first exchanged emails when I was about 6 months pregnant and then we went back and forth, tossing around ideas on what we wanted to accomplish for Dannica’s newborn session. She always creates a shared Pinterest board to fully grasp your vision and is so hands on and collaborative from the beginning. When we met for the first time (a week after I gave birth), I just knew that she was going to be in my life forever. She is a lifestyle photographer, but she is really so much more than that.

D’Ann’s beautiful place with the barn her husband built with his own two hands in the background.

She lives on the most beautiful piece of land with rolling hills, luscious green trees, and crested mountains. She tends to the most beautiful garden you can possibly dream of in her backyard. Her photo studio is a cottage straight out of a fairy tale. She and her husband also have two beautiful children, two adorable dogs, two of the most stunning horses you can imagine—one black and one white stallion, and so many other barn animals. (By the way, her husband BUILT their barn!) With so many resources at her fingertips, a photo session with her is only limited by your imagination.

One of her gentle and sweet horses, Sebastian.

Amidst her garden

Our newborn session was a daylong affair but the time just flew by. She is an animal and baby whisperer and I could not believe how easily she would coax a smile out of Dannica. I could not believe how patiently she would wait for that perfect little baby yawn and stretch that we mothers melt a million times over for. She captured all the yummy newborn baby details—I was in near tears when I reviewed the gallery because by then, Dannica already lost all of her fresh newborn look. It only solidified in my mind how glad I was to have documented every bit of it. It is heart breaking how short that stage is.

My ALL time favorite photo. EVER.

She knits and makes all her newborn outfits. She has baskets upon baskets of the most adorable accessories and clothes.

We used this as our birth announcement!

She also did Dannica’s 3, 6, 9 month and 1 year session and each session was just so much fun. She always creates a fresh Pinterest board for the perfect session. For example we did a tea party themed session for Dannica’s 9 month session because we were throwing an Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party for her one year. And then for her one-year session, we did an UP!/balloon themed session, which I loved too!

Tea party themed 9 month session taken in front of her wall of peonies.

She seriously makes magic.

Amidst all the blooms in her stunning garden.

1 year UP session

I am so excited that Dannica’s 2 year old session is coming up. I always catch myself daydreaming about what we will do, and what D’Ann has planned. We decided to go for a Secret Garden theme for this session. So far we are thinking lots of blooms, wildflowers, and green, green meadows. I cannot WAIT for our session and I cannot WAIT to share with you the final photos!!! If you want to see photos that will just take your breath away and transport you to a fairy tale that you have dreamed of growing up, you have to check out her portfolio and her instagram.

Smitten & Swoon | www.smittenandswoon.com | @smittenandswoon