Cute pup! (135)
Image by Matthew Sylvester
Lovely card from Stefanie
Day 10 - Don't want to do Christmas
Image by Auntie P
In years gone by my mother's birthday (today) would mark the time when we finally got around to thinking about Christmas properly. I think it spoils Christmas when everything kicks off in the shops in September. So after my mother's birthday, she and my daughter would decorate her flat, and she and I would start making shopping lists - who was getting the cheese, who was getting the cakes, etc.
We would spend Christmas Day and Boxing Day at my mother's - just the three of us. I would cook the dinner on both days (and New Year's Day) and my mother would tell me where I was going wrong.
My mother died in September 2006. That first Christmas was difficult. I had never bothered to decorate at home. I'm not particularly keen on Christmas decorations and can't afford the kind I really would like, so I don't bother. I don't send cards to people I see, speak to, email or catch up with online some way, because I can wish them a Happy Christmas without writing it on a card. I send a few to relatives for whom that is my only contact all year - an excuse for a letter and exchange of news.
I sat at home one year and looked at all the Christmas cards on my wall - a few from the aforementioned relatives, but most from friends who had handed them to me from their pile of laboriously signed cards. I wondered why I had gone out and bought cards that I liked, only to have to sit and look at this motley collection which were given with love and in friendship but also from a sense of duty. I ducked out of the game.
As for decorations, I have fairy lights across my ceiling permanently. They are switched on for various occasions throughout the year. I also buy a star every winter to put on the curly ironwork bannister alongside the staircase in my living room. They stay there all year. This year I saw quite a few that I liked so I bought more.
Anyway, that first Christmas after my mother died, I went to a lot of effort to make it 'right'. A lot of physcial effort in decorating the house, making all the arrangements; a lot of financial effort buying the same things my mother and I had bought between us; and a lot of emotional effort to try to make up for it all for my daughter's sake.
I spent most of that Christmas Day on my own.
Last year I didn't decorate. My daughter's boyfriend at the time came for dinner with us in the evening. I spent a lot of that time alone too.
I really don't want to do it this year. I still want to visit my brother and his family in the morning and exchange presents, and I'm happy to buy presents for everyone, but I don't want to do Christmas because I don't know who I am doing it for any more. It used to be the time when three of us spent time together.
What I would really love is a bright crispy day and to spend it out and about taking photos of deserted streets, windswept beaches and anything that takes my fancy. Then spend a cosy evening indoors with a big meal I've not had to cook, a full glass, and to edit the photos of the day.
I can imagine the rebellion if I suggested doing that. Maybe in a few years' time I'll get my wish.
Me and 3 Cards
Image by Tojosan
Three cards from three wonderful ladies and their families. From the left, Trish, Aunt Leota, Tracy. Yay for friends and family.
(Todd Jordan)
It's not much, but it's probably the best food I'll get for this whole Christmas weekend at home...
Image by Ed Yourdon
Note: this photo was published in a Jun 18, 2010 blog titled "What is the best combination of food on Sims 2?" It was also published in a Jul 7, 2010 Food Expedition blog, with the same title as the caption that I used on this Flickr page. It was also published as an illustration in an undated (mid-Dec 2010) Squidoo blog titled "Wishes for Christmas."
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I've been to Grand Central Station twice before in the past couple of years to take photos (click here and here to see the Flickr sets) ... so why go back again? The answer is simple: I had a dentist appointment a few days ago, and the dentist's office is about two blocks away from Grand Central. I was curious to see if New York's main train station was more crowded during the Christmas season, or perhaps had a different atmosphere than I had seen during my previous two visits in July 2008 and June 2009.
I didn't have much time, but I thought I could spare an hour; and if you look closely, you'll see that the first photo in this set was taken at approximately 12:15 PM, and the final one was at 1:20 PM. During that brief period, I took a total of 360 photos, which works out to approximately one photo every 10 seconds. It's not quite as crazy as it sounds, because I often shoot three or four shots in quick succession, if I'm focusing on people in motion, or people's facial expressions. But at the same time, I have to admit that it's not my style to sit quietly in a corner somewhere, waiting for the one, single "perfect" photo-op to present itself in front of my camera.
Of course, the reason I can afford to do this is that digital photographs are essentially "free"; one memory card on my DSLR camera can hold 10 images, or 100, or even 500. I typically expect to delete 90% of the images I take; in this case, I was a little less critical, and ended up with 40 "keepers" out of the 360 initial images.
As for the images themselves: well, the lighting was different in winter, even though I arrived at approximately the same time of day as with the previous two summertime visits. And I was shooting with a Nikon D700 instead of a D300, so I was able to use a higher ISO setting of 6400 without suffering too much noise in the resulting images...
But mostly, it was the people -- and their style and clothing and behavior -- that were different. These photos were all taken two days before Christmas, so there were large groups of people (as well as a couple of soldiers) moving quickly from the ticket booth to the trains, hurrying to arrive home for the holidays. There were also numerous tourists, and there seemed to be far more cameras and cellphones than I had seen before. Also, there was an animated "light show" playing all across the ceiling of Grand Central at various intervals; consequently, you'll see several shots of people staring straight up at the ceiling, with a look of wonder and amazement on their faces...
No doubt you'll see other differences, too, if you're curious. I suggest that you use the slide-show feature of Flickr to step through these images quickly; and then use the slide-show feature to step through the other two sets, here and here so you can see the differences for yourself.
Meanwhile, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ... and stay tuned for another visit to Grand Central, sometime in the future...
More Beautiful Cards
Image by Tojosan
Received two more cards today. The one on the left is from Glenda and her husband, the one on the right from a couple at church.
What a nice surprise.
(Todd Jordan)
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