I love the holidays.

They mean smiling faces, holiday decorations, and friends and family.

Last December, I decided to host abbreviated sessions to allow families to get that all-important holiday photo taken for cards or gift-giving.

One outfit, 15 to 20 minutes. Perfect for families to get in and out with little to no pain.

I knew it would be a little bit stressful for me trying to get smiling shots for each participating family in a short amount of time. Compare it to a blind date - if there isn't an almost instant connection, there's a whole lot of awkward.

Lucky for me, the first limited session of the season was Veronica, Cody and Rylee.

I'd never formally met Veronica and Cody until the day of their session, but I'd seen Veronica repeatedly on my emergency runs to town for forgotten items.

In tow was baby Rylee who was initially pretty leary of a stranger waving a large contraption (the camera) in front of her face.

We started with some family images which quickly settled her. She started smiling.

Then we decided to pull Rylee aside for some solo images. She wasn't so sure about that.

After a short warming up period with mom and me quickly pulling out all every stop, noise, and stunt we knew, Rylee started to smile again and even giggled.

I love the images we came up with in a very short amount of time and the fun we had making them.

I see photos of Rylee now and even though their session wasn't that long ago, she's grown a ton. I'm sure her family captured many images of her during the holidays. Someday, Rylee will look back and enjoy every one of them.