In the Moment

Ah, the holiday season!  Concerts, programs, parties, pageants.   This season is so busy for us parents.  I feel like we just run from one performance to the next, and my girls aren't in a lot of activities!  One thing I have noticed lately, in all my audience time, is how much we photograph and videotape every single minute of stage time.  Okay, okay, I know that a lot of moms aren't like me and make sure their battery in their camera is charged before leaving the house (ahem) or that they packed their fancy photo taking phone in their purse (mine is worthless as a camera).  But as I watch so many of these parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles document their small, loved ones, I wonder:  how many of those hours of videotape will actually be watched?  How many photos will actually make it to the printer?  

I am a sentimental type, don't get me wrong, but I wonder:  did the adult really even see the full performance on the screen of their camera or cell phone?  When did we get so obsessed in "capturing the moment" that we missed the moment all together?  

Well, since I can't take pictures on my camera with a dead battery or on my horrible cell phone (which I would have to pry from my toddler who is watching a dancing blob of toothpaste), I have learned to just enjoy the moment.  To actually watch all the children performing, instead of being so zoomed in on my child that I miss the little boy picking his nose, the way the children light up when interacting with the teacher who prepared the performance, or the shy girl who finally started doing the motions with the rest of the group.  These are the moments we are truly missing.  This is why we come to these events and spend countless hours doing hair, finding dresses and practicing lines and songs.  These are the memories that our children will have while reminiscing about their elementary concert or Christmas program, not the hour long performance seen on video playback.

As we go into the final days of Christmas, I realize that I want to enjoy the full picture of what's happening in front of me.  I don't want to see the day through a viewfinder, but rather, snap a few pictures of the highlights to tuck away, and then enjoy the big picture.