The People Around Your Table

Thinking about the upcoming holidays, who else besides me is looking for new Thanksgiving recipes, thumbing through the newest Southern Living magazine (my favorite)? But the truth is, I always return to what I have always done—and store those new recipes for later.

We seem to always return to what we know. Why? Familiar food is a touchstone, full of memories of years past.

So…those same familiar recipes come out again.

This year, we encourage everyone to take a moment to look at the people around your table. Put the phones away, linger a little longer, and simply enjoy the sweet gift of being together.

Family tables have a way of quietly changing through the years.

Children grow taller. Boyfriends and girlfriends became husbands and wives. Babies arrive. Grandparents grow older.

The table may even have become larger to make room for everyone.

And sometimes, there is an empty chair where someone we loved once sat.

We rarely recognize these changes while they are happening. Life simply moves forward.

That's one of the reasons photographs become so important.

A family portrait gives us something that memory alone cannot. It allows us to see everyone together—at this age, in this season, exactly as the family was at that particular moment.

The family portrait you create today isn't only for you. It’s for your family.

Because someday, one of the most meaningful photographs hanging on your wall may be a portrait of the people who once gathered around your table.

I look forward to hearing from you to make plans for a family portrait this year.

-Tim