How can I make LR show ALL my subfolders?

Question

I have LR 5.3. I have an external drive with a master folder ("all my photos") within which are multple subfolders. When I enter LR in Library view, I only see the folders that have had images imported into LR. I want to move some of hte photos I have imported to some of the other folders,but those other folders do not appear. I have tried "show parent folder" and then expanding it, but that does not help. The folder I *WANT* to move these photos TO, is BELOW the folder that has the photos. Here's my structure:
all my photosfamily
birthdays2013-new
holidays
I have imported into birthdays (2013-new) and now I want to MOVE that folder to holidays, but the holidays folder does not show up in LR. I have tried putting photos directly into holidays, doing an import+"uncheck all" but the import button then goes gray, so I can't continue the null-import.
How can I get "holidays" to appear without importing anything (I actually have DOZENS of such folders I want to appear).
Hoping for a clue,
DJ

Answer 1

Yes, it sounds workable, but you can do one export of an entire folder, or an entire collection, instead of exporting each photo individually. Are you aware that you don't have to export every photo that you edit? You export only when needed for some non-Lightroom purpose; so for example, if you have edited 100 photos, and then you decide that you want 25 for a slideshow in JAlbum, then you would only export those 25.
You can have photos exported to the same folder as the original, this is an option in the Export dialog section named Export Location. You can assign custom names using the File Naming section of the Export Dialog box, so you aren't overwriting your original, and you can easily tell which one is the export.
When I see "collections" in the panels, I don't see the folders the photos came from. Maybe I'm not looking inthe right place.
Collections only exist in Lightroom. They do not exist in operating system folders. If you have a collection of photos that come from many different imported folders, then the idea of keeping the exported photos in the same folder as the original destroys the idea of keeping the photos from the collection together.
This brings up the concept of differentiating your "organization" from your "folders". These are two separate concepts in Lightroom, even though they might have been the same thing in PS and Bridge. Your organization of photos (keywords, collections) is always kept in Lightroom and can be independent of how the photos exist in folders in your operating system. In this example, where you want a collection of photos from JAlbum, I see no particular issue with keeping the collection in Lightroom, and exporting to a specific folder (not the same folder as the original folders) for JAlbum. Now, I understand you are going to say ... hey wait, I want the export and original together ... yes, they are together in Lightroom, where your organization exists, even if they are not together in folders. If you force yourself to continue to use folders as the way to organize, and you force yourself to stick with the old idea of keeping export and original together, then you lose the benefit of some of Lightroom's best features; you need to adapt and use new methods and throw out your old ideas about the way photos should be organized.
My opinion ... all organizing should be done in Lightroom, and not via folders. The only time a folder should be used is at import (the photos have to go somewhere, I use folder names based on capture date) and at export when the photos are needed for some non-Lightroom purpose (the photos have to go somewhere, you can choose a meaningful folder name). Other than that, I do not use folders for any purpose.