Well two shopping days left and the pressure is on. Even Lisa and I have a couple things to pick up. It makes you wonder about our sanity at this time of year. I mean it’s always a wonderful feeling to hit a home run and bring home just the right gift that evokes the response of the kids jumping up and down in jubilation over your gift. It’s also very nice if that significant other also jumps up and down but that’s another story… But to brave all the lines and the parking lots full of cars or worse the one remaining spot with a a half dozen carts in it that you have to move out of your way, if you really want this spot…

What it all comes down to, is the kids faces in the morning as they find their gifts under the tree, left with great care. [SinglePic not found] Some days it’s the simpler things that will bring the widest smiles. As evidenced by this picture of my niece last Christmas morning. I arrived early to find her holding the newest member of the family. The boys soon took Cassie out to play in the yard (and do her business) and have some boy time with the furry new addition. [SinglePic not found]

The old man in the house (Robie) who in the past year has since passed away, handed the responsibility of being the family dog to Cassie to care for. You can see here in this photo that even Robie enjoyed getting a Christmas present as much as the kids. [SinglePic not found] Although I have to admit he like most all of our four footed friends, he wasn’t very picky when it came to gifts from his people. Love is love to a dog… wish we could be more like that!

Maybe if we were all a little more like this in our daily lives and remember it’s not the gift you receive but the act of giving that is special. Remember, someone went out of their way to give you something that took thought and time. Think how much your time is worth to you today?

We’re bombarded by commercials that espouse giving cash cards because the gifts won’t be the right ones… What if we just gave of our time. Can you imagine a more princely gift in todays busy life. I can’t imagine a more important gift to be given a child than our time, attention and love…

I’ve seen on the news two occasions over the past two weeks where someone paid for a coffee for the person behind them and it would continue all day long as each person came through the line. How about if that really caught on in other areas of our lives.
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Well we got hit with our first real snow of the season and the down town is all white with pathways cut down the side walks. I was able to find a parking spot immediately, of course I had to climb a snow bank to use it!

I talked to Bill at Bewitched in Salem (a purveyor of the more eclectic things that artists create to sell through him). And he says even having Santa come in for a quick visit the other night didn’t scare up (get it witch city.. scare up.. oh come on…) Anyway five people came through his shop that night four of them were just using his place to get to the pedestrian way outside and one person wanted a newspaper.

I walked around Salem catching a few pictures here and there of the buildings with the mounds of snow. I caught a few nice shots that will be going up on my stockphoto site. This is a new endeavor for me and we’ll see if it makes good sense. I suppose if you like my photography on my main website Vistaphotography or my photoblog you can look those sites over and between them I have many of my photographs up on line.

Aside from all the kids out of school, I found that the light was interesting at the Witch House. So I got out and plowed my way through the snow to get a good shot of it…
So until another day and another story. Merry Christmas!