The Christmas Spirit...

 Well we made it! We made it through the all the wrapping paper, the endless bowls of candies, breads, cakes and pies, the Christmas dinner(s) and the family get togethers. Oh I know, the season's not over yet and I'm not saying that I want it to be. New Years' is just next week but to be honest with you, that hasn't held a lot of excitement for me in quite some time. When I do stay up until midnight or later it's either at this computer or lying in bed trying to sleep but not yet getting there. So anyway, the rush of Christmastime is over. I'll be taking the Christmas CDs out of the car and putting them back in their spot until next year. Probably some time this week the tree will come down and if I have time, the outdoor lights will be taken down and rolled up as best as I can ( I'm not even going to discuss how that usually turns out...).
 It's funny how Christmas starts to take a hold of us and day by day we start getting into the "Christmas spirit". Slowly all of the gift buying, the candy making and decorations that adorn our houses builds to a crescendo until the day comes and it's here! And then with just the tick of a few very short hours it's over. But you know as well as I do that it doesn't need to be over and really, it shouldn't ever be over. Look at old Scrooge and even the Grinch. They learned to live like Christmas was everyday so surely we could too. I tend to think that as each year passes I've been able to take a little Christmas spirit and tuck it away to be used at my discretion at any given time and place, each year adding to that which I've stored from the years before. I can only hope that the people that know me(and maybe even more so, people that don't know me) have been able to see that in me.
  At any rate, the new year is coming and that means that another year has passed. They sure do seem to fly by any more. One of these days I'll tell you my theory on that...

Christmas In My Heart...

 Several years ago we began going to the Children's Mass at St. Agnes Cathedral on Christmas Eve with my mother. We used to go to the Midnight Mass but I don't have to tell you, that makes for an awful long Christmas Day when you're up early with the kids. And besides, the Children's Mass is at 5:00 and that's plenty of time to go out for Chinese food afterward. I guess that that in itself has become a little Christmas tradition of ours too. I'm not sure but I think that it might stem from the movie "A Christmas Story" and if you're familiar at all with the only movie that I know of that's played over and over for 24 hours you'll know that the Bumpus' hounds break into Ralphie Parker's house and make off with the Christmas turkey leaving Ralphie and his family with the only restaurant that's open and that being the aforementioned Chinese restaurant. (whew...) So yeah, that's become a little tradition of ours.
 I guess that there's a few things that have become a Christmas tradition for us now that I think of it. Charlie Brown Christmas , The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, not to mention actually watching A Christmas Story over and over (and over). We have to listen to the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi while we're decorating the tree, we have to.We find ourselves getting out the movies of Brendon when he was four years old and singing Feliz Navidad at which Brenda always tears up. And every Christmas Brenda makes tons of candies, cakes and breads that get distributed to our friends and neighbors. But all that aside, I do enjoy the Children's Mass. It's always an amazing experience of sights and sounds. But most of all it let's me feel Christmas in my heart and that's where it should be...

On Your Best Behavior...

 Better watch out, better not cry, better not pout I'm telling you why! Santa Claus is coming to town! There's less than a week to go kids and I don't think that I've gotten to bed before midnight in the last week so I'm not going to stay up late tonight.(although, it's 11:15 now). The new job has me up before 6AM and I'm just not getting enough sleep with all of the Christmas goings on uh, going on. So you know what you need to be doing.(he's making a list and checking it twice!) There's still time to be good (gonna find out who's naughty or nice...) and I'll be back on Wednesday hopefully all rested up. But for now, goodnight and I sincerely hope that this Christmas season is finding all of you well and on your best behavior!

Now That's Magic...

 I really wanted to just jot down a few words tonight. I knew I couldn't skip it again this week but I've had a little trouble lately finding the words to write. I went and finished (yes, I said finished ) my Christmas shopping tonight and I'm sure that it was past midnight by the time I got to sleep last night so I momentarily gave the idea a thought.
 But then I thought about Christmas being just around the corner and what an opportunity it would be to write something profound about world peace or helping the needy or volunteering our time or just plain ole being good to each other.
And I guess all of that is good to get up on our soapbox about but as we all know it's not supposed to take it being Christmastime to be good to each other. We're supposed to always be that way. "Love one another..." that's how it goes, isn't it? It was never supposed to be that hard to do.
 I suppose though that I am thankful to those that at least use this time of year as an excuse to shed that rough exterior that they carry around all year long, if only for a few days, and show the world some compassion.
 So now that I have spread the message of love thy neighbor- however inadvertently it came about- I just wanted to show you Kierra. When you hear about the magic of Christmas I'm sure that it conjures up all sorts of images but this photo of  Kierra seemed to sum it up pretty well for me. There is nothing more special than a child and there is nothing more wonder filled than a child's mind. We're very blessed in that Brenda has been able to help raise several children through her baby sitting and I'm very blessed to be able to get the chance to play with them all and watch their faces when they've discovered something new and even lend an ear once in a while when one of the babies actually tries to explain it to me. I've often thought that if I were to suddenly go deaf I think that the last thing I would want to hear would be a child's laughter. Now that's magic...

Just A While...

 Well here it is - my annual first snow photo. That's right, we woke up this morning to a thin layer of the white stuff. The unfortunate part is that the temperatures are dropping to single digits and that just seems to take all the fun out of it! I always said that if I didn't love the Ozarks so much, I'd move to a far warmer climate and just visit once in a while. But I'd never do that. This part of the country is awful special to me. Anyway, the snow obviously presents a whole new batch of photo opportunities and that's something I can really appreciate. I just don't get the opportunity to travel much what with everything we have going on and that can be a real problem for a so called "outdoor photographer". I have quite a list of  places I like to frequent in the immediate area and they're some pretty awesome places but eventually burn-out can set in and sometimes, as much as I hate to admit it, it starts to be the same old thing.
 So when snow comes it changes everything and makes it fresh again. It's amazing what even the smallest amount of snow can do to a landscape. It makes the drab colorful. It makes the stale fresh. It breaks up the colors of the forest and gives everything a crisp edge again. It just kind of makes all the old things new, at least for a while. And that's all I need to recharge my batteries and remember why I love doing this so much -just a while. Because after all, we're only here for a while...     

Brittany

 It seems like it's getting harder and harder to decide what to post. I don't know if I'm getting more critical of my photos or maybe the words just don't seem to come some days and I'm too focused on my writing. After all, I am trying to develop some sort of writing skills to go along with whatever I  decide to post.
 At any rate, it really should not have been that mind twisting to come up with a photo that I thought you might enjoy. In the last post I referred to a recent shoot for senior pictures and this is one of the results of that shoot. This is Brittany and I (with the aid of Bridgett of course) was privileged to do her senior pictures. I've known Brittany since she was a little girl and she sure has grown up fast! I think she must have been in about the first or second grade when I started working with her dad, Larry. Although I saw Larry at least five days a week I would only see Brittany occasionally so that every time I did see her she was one or two grades further along. Now, all of a sudden, she's a senior in high school! I'm sure that I don't have to tell you that that's just another reminder of how fast the years go flying past us. Well she's got five younger sisters that are all growing up just as  fast and (yes, I said five) hopefully I'll do their senior pictures and who knows, maybe I'll be shooting their weddings too...

Back In The Day...

 These horses caught my eye recently when I was doing a photo shoot for some senior pictures. The landscape that day was spectacular to say the least adding to what, I think, was a very good session. Scenes like this always make me think of  past eras when it was not uncommon to wander upon a herd of wild horses. When it was far from unusual for a man (or even a boy) to go out and find his next means of transportation. Kind of like an old west car lot if you will.
 You know, I'm one of those people that from time to time likes to imagine how I would like to live back in the days before all of the "modern marvels" crept their way into our society. Before things got so complicated. I like to tell people how I would love to have been back there- back in those days. Well, I guess that a large part of that is true, but I'm not really so sure that I would want to go back and actually live in those times.
 It would be cool -to an extent. There's not much I do enjoy more than being away from the hustle and bustle. Having a place with lots and lots of acreage (I couldn't put a number on how many acres I'd really want) is what I've wanted for what seems like a very long time. That, unfortunately doesn't seem to be in my financial near future. But to be honest, I like modern conveniences. I like having a warm car in the morning. I like a coffee pot that has my coffee ready 15 minutes before I get up. I like my digital camera... I really like my digital camera! And I like sharing my thoughts via the internet with all of you that check out what I have to share a couple of times a week.
 Back in the day will just have to remain back in the day and maybe from time to time I'll be able to go back by way of some awesome vacation or who knows, maybe even one day I'll own lots and lots of acreage and I'll have my own herd of wild horses that I can just go sit and watch and think about the good ol' days...