12 days of christmas - final day | whitehorse children's photographer

Right before Christmas, for the first 12 days of December, I did a giveaway on my Facebook fan page. There were different prompts for each of the 12 days which were all very hilarious. There were stories shared that talked about the worst office party Secret-Santa gift (hello, blue wrestling leotard!) and the Christmas tree full of baby spiders... but I had one very special gift to give which I saved for the very last day. That gift was this entire special package from my Black Friday sale. I wanted to give the gift of photography including prints.

The contest went something like this: Followers of the fan page were to email me privately with nominations of families who they felt deserving of a little extra Christmas magic. The response was pretty fantastic and the stories were told in such a sincere and heartfelt manner which made it really hard to decide who would receive this gift. After a few days of mulling over the nominations, I finally made a decision. The family had been chosen, but now I had to coordinate the actual suprise!

I called the woman who had nominated the lucky family to tell her that her entry had been chosen. She was a little emotional but was so excited for her friend. We had to keep it a secret for a few days until we could make the presentation in person. I asked my friend, Johanna from Birds on a Wire Photography to join us to grab a few photos along the way.

I was so excited to tell our winner about her being nominated PLUS I had another wee surprise planned for the nominator too!

I rang the doorbell and a very confused Rachel answered the door. She listened closely as I explained who I was and what the heck I was doing standing on her stoop on Christmas Eve with a photographer standing behind me! She quickly went from confused to excited when all the information sunk in. I told her that her good friend Ashley had nominated her for my contest and she said, "...and I won?!?!" as a huge smile spread across her face. It was such a fun moment!

Then I got to tell Ashley that I was giving her the very same prize for sharing the love on Christmas! I love kind heartedness and honestly, this was so much fun I think I could do it every day! These gals were so dang sweet and completely overjoyed to find that they both got this awesome prize, I knew I had picked a great family to give this gift to!

nominator Ashley Griffis on the left, me in the middle and winner Rachel McIntyre on the right

To all of those who nominated families who were not selected, thank you for being so selfless and for sharing your stories. They were all very touching and I know that they are all blessed for having such wonderful friends like you!

To everyone, Happy New Year!
♥ Vanessa