Capturing the Beauty

The past few years I've turned into a bit of a photo bug. I carry my camera in my purse so I have it whenever I spot something I want to capture. It's been fun! When it comes to Christmas, I realized I've really gone nuts with the pictures. Three years ago I had a few pictures of our new front room tree, a few decorations, and the opening of presents. Last year, more photos of the front room tree plus the new red and white tree. These photos include closeups of my favorite ornaments from a variety of angles. I also captured several of the snow, the outside lights in the snow, and more snow. Oh, and I took a few of the new mantle decor. And of course, the opening of presents.

That brings us to this year. I took more pictures of our front room tree and the red and white tree, plus the two hodge podge trees, the nativities, the village, and random other decorations. I have captured the main parts of our house in a photo one way or another. There are a few things I haven't photographed, but there's still time so you never know what might be caught by my camera.

The thing I realized is even though we put out the same decorations and trees, we usually add something new. And with the things I'm decorating, I like to do it from scratch. I might look at last year's pictures for a general reminder or inspiration, but how I organize or display things is all new. For me, this is part of the fun of decorating - deciding where to put things and feeling creative in the process. Plus, then it all looks new again to me.

So at night when I sit and look at the lights and decorations, I find that I notice new things and I never tire of enjoying the view. It soothes my soul and brings joy to my heart.

My favorite ornament on the front room tree.