We’re going to be out of town this year for Thanksgiving, so on Sunday my husband and I hosted an early Thanksgiving for our families. We were excited to have everyone over – it’s our first year in our first house – and we were more than a little relieved that even if it did go badly, we at least wouldn’t ruin the “real” holiday – everyone else will still have dinner while we’re on vacation. We researched recipes and planned what dish would go in what serving bowl; we experimented with different table layouts and debated the various merits of different turkey cooking methods.

My husband was more nervous than I was – he’s the cook in the family. And while everyone enjoyed themselves, of course it wasn’t flawless. My husband was more than a little embarrassed when he delivered the turkey to the table with a flourish, cut into it, and promptly discovered the plastic bag that once held the innards. When it came time for dessert, the peanut butter cream pie I had baked wound up tasting pretty good but had the very unfortunate texture of Jell-o ® .

Of course we all just laughed through these mishaps and still left full of plenty of tasty food. The only real misstep: despite my best intentions, I didn’t take a single picture. Sure, we have the memories of the day, and I know that’s what really matters. But our first Thanksgiving in the house has come and gone, and I wish I’d gotten pictures of that. With the holidays coming up, I’ll be sure not to make that mistake again.

Too often we take our big family holidays for granted and forget that they deserve the same photographic documentation that family weddings and birthdays do. Especially with the ease of transferring and storing digital pictures, there’s no reason not to bring your camera along to the festivities this year and snap away. Fill your camera card up, and not just when everyone’s looking at the camera and smiling. Candid family pictures are some of the best, and you can always delete the bad ones as you go along. You never know what pictures will turn out to be your favorite, so experiment, have fun, and capture it all – and that includes whatever your in-turkey plastic bags and peanut butter-flavored gelatin mishaps turn out to be! Who knows – one of those pictures, with everyone laughing, could turn out to be the very picture you’d want to use for a custom family oil painting portrait!

Meanwhile, as I mentioned earlier, I’ll be on vacation for the next week. While everyone else is eating their stuffing and pumpkin pie, we’ll be scarfing down souvlaki and baklava in Greece…and of course taking a lot of pictures! I’ll be back the first week of December, no doubt with a lot of new knowledge about art and a lot of new “learned the hard way” lessons about vacation photography to share with you.

So grab your camera and record your memories this Thanksgiving, and I’ll record mine. Even if this year seems like it will be like any other, there really is only one Thanksgiving 2009 – enjoy it!