My first frigid shoot of the year, done at 9am on a morning with sub zero temperatures in early December. Why, you ask? Well, we posponed the shoot at least 5 times in November due to rain (It was a quiet November for Mandy Jill and her camera, thanks to Mother Nature) and there was a Christmas Card deadline to meet. The Dawes family braved the cold and we met at Maple Ridge Park. I was so glad they chose this spot when I first drove up.

It was a breathtaking morning. Mother Nature apologized for giving us a crappy November! Yes, she was in a good mood this morning. This is the type of morning that makes your entire WEEK seem beautiful. The low sun shining through the frost-bitten willows was simply stunning to behold. But it was still damn cold.

We captured some sweet family photos for the Dawes family…without jackets at first. The request was for just a few photos without them but that was enough for little Kloey. She quickly let us know how cold she really was and started crying. Her tears didn’t stay long enough to freeze and luckily we were still able to capture some sweet moments before wrapping things up a bit early. It was just to cold to keep on going, unfortunately. I find tears endearing, especially on Kloey’s sweet little face. However, for some reason, Christmas cards don’t usually feature photos of crying children (*sarcastic – you got that right?*). We tried.