when you think of christmas, you think of pine tree's, holly, ivy, snow, reindeer, cold temperatures...it took this mid-west is best girl almost a decade of living in arizona to think of the desert as beingone, beautiful...it SO is...there is literally nothing like the light of the desert an hour before sunset...everything glows, literally...and two, christmas-y...I've seen so many cactus christmas tree's and javelina "reindeer" that the desert now has it's own unique christmas vibe...albeit a more hipster-non-traditional-christmas-y vibe...but christmas-y none-the-less ;)I LOVED that these five families (two of the families wanted to surprise family that might spy on the blog with christmas presents!)wanted the desert and trusted me to photograph their family photographs in a place that was a little more non-traditional but tremendously beautiful.the desert is one of my ALL-TIME favorite places to shoot...right up there with the beach next to the ocean!p.s. HUGE thank you to john for helping sammie and I carry this gorgeous vintage tangerine love seat through cactus and desert to find just the right spot.we had never met before his session and I'm 99.9% certain he thought I was crazy for wanting it...but he smiled and helped us anyways! :)