It feels like so long ago that we were in Japan and I keep having to remind myself that it was only a month ago. To be honest, planning a vacation in October has completely messed up my sense of time. Suddenly we were back and it was Halloween and now it’s almost Thanksgiving and Christmas is around the corner. I am madly trying to pull together christmas presents before printing deadlines as well as keeping up with school vacation schedules and work schedules.

It’s a crazy time of the year. But, surprisingly, I am very excited about Christmas this year. Maybe it’s the fact that we have no plans to get on an aeroplane and that I have two boys who are anxiously counting down the days. I know it’s not because we have been threatened with snow this week. I can do without that. (bah! Humbug!)

So all of this makes Japan seem like a lifetime ago and I am doing my best to hold onto the memories – at least until I can find a few moments to write them down.

This week’s I heart faces challenge is “paper” and I found this little gem while going through our photos from Japan. Kei’s mother was extremely camera-shy so of course I made the most of every opportunity to take her photograph when I could and I just love the moment I captured with this shot. It’s not perfect – even a little blurry – but it tells the story of our train ride to Hakone and brings back so many memories.