My heart is very, very full this season. Perhaps it’s because “Soul Surfer” is on in the next room of my parent’s home and is subliminally sending uplifting tones my way via the triumphal soundtrack.  Or perhaps it’s just because ever since my mother asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year I haven’t been able to stop thinking about my Christmas list last year.

Last year I had one thing on my Christmas list and one thing only:

Money .

To go toward buying a 5D Mark II.

(For those of you who don’t follow camera body makes and models, that’s the camera I use now — a huge upgrade from the first DSLR I had purchased my senior year of high school and had used up to this point in my life.)

Last Christmas James and I had been married for six months — the length of which I had been finishing up college and he had been applying and applying and applying to art teacher positions but to no avail. We were living off of painting commissions and the very beginning stages of “Jillian Zamora Photography” as we now know it. I knew I wouldn’t get anywhere near enough money to buy the new camera after Christmas, but I wanted to get closer to that goal more than I wanted new dresses or boots or . . . anything. I wanted to push through the photography stage I was in at that time. Because at this point,  photography as a career still seemed out of reach. Unattainable. Not quiiiiite possible — at least not for me.

And money was what I got. By December 26th I was several hundred dollars closer to my goal . . . but still several thousand dollars away from it.

And that was okay. I was closer.

This Christmas when my mom asked me what I wanted, I just smiled. I thought back to that newly married, not-quite-a-college-grad girl reeeeeeeeeeeeeaching and straaaaaaaining toward a career in photography.

And I thanked the Lord for where He’s brought me.

I thanked Him for all the blessings He gave me along the way.

I thanked Him for where He has me now and where He intends for me to go.

And, of course, I gave my mother a Christmas list with dresses and boots on it.

Yes, my heart is very, very full this Christmas and I hope yours is too! Thank you for checking back in on the blog even though I have been a blogging-failure since September. I really, really appreciate that you’re still here. I am planning big, big blogging overhauls for the next few weeks (and months) so get excited. I know I am.

Because every post needs a picture — here’s a shot from a few weeks ago of me, James and our sweet little puppy Jack in front of the Zamora Christmas tree. I had to resort to an iphone shot because that’s the only one I have of the three of us (but this will soon be remedied).

Jillian Zamora Photography sends merriest Christmas wishes to the lovely blog readers, clients and facebook “like”ers. You all mean so very much to me and all play a big role in making my heart so full this Christmas eve eve.