All My Blogs

 Trust and Family at Christmas The Svendsen Family - 2024 People are important.  But not everyone is important to you.  That's because we value relationships and we value trust. It is impossible to have a good relationship with someone if there is no trust.   If you are the cynical type, trust must be earned.  Once lost, it may never be granted again.  If you are the optimistic sort, you give trust easily, and once lost, it may be regained over time.  Who you trust, and how much, depends on history, genetics, and relationships within the group you hold dear as a whole.   Christmas is about family and friends, about spending time with loved ones, and building relationships.  As pleasant as that sounds, the fact is there may be people in your circle that you have lost trust in.  You may be able to be around them, for the good of the group, but you extract little pleasure and merely tolerate their presence. This is where communica...

 When your birthday is near Christmas Nora Svendsen's family - she has an early January birthday. Having your birthday near Christmas is a good news/bad news thing.  The good news is that you are likely to have lots of people around to celebrate the special day with you, since they are all there for Christmas anyways.  The bad news is that you get all your gifts at the same time. Nora's birthday is close to Christmas.  We come out to visit my son and his family and get to celebrate both events at the same time.  And, as fate would have it, they had a second child, born on the other side of Christmas.  Emma's birthday is a week before, and she is celebrating her very first one.   The chances of us being there to celebrate both birthdays with the girls are somewhat remote.  We would have to stay for about a month to enable that, and that is a little too long for everyone involved.  So, that leaves us with a choice; do we visit before Chris...

 Pictures as Presents A friend receiving a poignant gift We met up with some friends during Christmas for a gift exchange.  The rule was simple, you had to make the item with your hands and couldn't spend more than $5.  I was hoping to use my photography and framing skills to make my contribution.  The question was, did I have any relevant photos that would mean something to my recipient? I have taken many thousands of photos over the years.  Tens of thousands.  Hundreds of thousands.  Maybe even millions.  Of those, I have people pictures, wildlife photos, and landscapes that might be acceptable.  However, after finding out who I was giving to, I realized I had just the perfect shot.  It was of her, with her dog, in a moment of bonding, with both showing elation (if a dog can do that).   I printed the photo on a colour inkjet printer using photo paper, built a frame in my shop, and cut the mat for it.  I don't know what t...

Picking out the Christmas Tree Felling and decorating the Christmas tree - 3 of the 11 images I shot. When the kids were young, we would go to a Christmas tree farm and look for a tree to bring home.  There was always hot chocolate and warm blankets and the promise of decorating it later.  The trip was a family adventure, everyone was involved in selecting the tree.  It had to be the right height, reasonably symmetrical, and have lots of open spaces to hang ornaments.  We never left disappointed. The tree would be brought home on the roof of our vehicle and immediately placed in a stand with abundant water.  After everyone was warmed up and the tree secure, the process of decorating it began.  Lights first, then ornaments, and finally the tinsel, ribbon, or sash added.  No Christmas tree would be complete without some crown at the tip, and so a blinking star or heavenly angel completed it. Next came the already-wrapped gifts and Christmas cards were hu...

 Not all Christmases are Merry. We think of Christmas as a time of joy, family, and friends.  Good food, lots of fun events, familiar seasonal songs in the air, and the hope of what lies ahead.  Most of us look forward to Christmas and can reflect on Christmas Pasts with fondness.  For me, that is true for most of them, but in 1980, it was very different. As a child, I wasn't really aware of my mom's addiction to alcohol.  Incidents that occurred were kept away from my siblings and I, it wasn't until I was in my teens that the scope of the problem became apparent.  I recall numerous incidents throughout my adolescence, but only one that occurred during Christmas.  It was 1980, Christmas Eve. It was very cold outside, a fairly typical day for central Alberta at Christmas.  We had a lot of snow, and the fields had somewhere between 18 - 24 inches upon them.  I don't recall what initiated the crisis, but my mom decided that she was going to walk...

 Christmas cards Leanne made this watercolour in 2017.  I photographed it and made it into a Christmas card.  We sent out a lot of them.  The inset was on the back of the card. The first known Christmas card was sent in 1611 from Germany to England.  The practice slowly gained popularity and, when half-penny postage was available in 1870, it became commonplace, with over 11 million cards being produced in England alone some ten years later.  Last year over two billion Christmas cards were sent in the US alone.  It seems the trend has continued to expand. I have made and sold cards for many years, mostly using my own photos, but in 2017 my daughter painted a simplified Christmas scene of our front room.  It was worthy of being converted into a Christmas card, and so I photographed it and printed numerous copies on photo-quality paper.  You can download the original file by clicking on the link below. Click on the image to see its full size the...

 The perfect gift What's the perfect gift for a child?  Sometimes, the answer is easy. Gift-giving is a wonderful sentiment loaded with risk.  How much do I spend?  Will the child like what they get?  Will they think of me when they use it or see it?  Is this something they already have?  Can I even find what I am looking for in time?  There is always the chance that good intentions crumble into disappointment. My daughter, Leanne, is remarkable in so many ways.  She has always had a love of art, making things with her hands.  From an early age, she enjoyed painting and working with paper and pencil (you could say she was drawn to it).  She also loved bright colours, and her favourite , by far, was purple. Leanne used to collect cardboard, the non-corrugated kind like paper tubes and cereal boxes.  Then she would cut them apart and join them together in various creative ways.  One year she made an entire Christmas Nativity...

Snow at Christmas Snow at Kanaka Creek, Josh and Leanne, someone sledding. What is it about snow that makes Christmas seem more Christmassy?  Being Canadian, I can tell you that it is because most of us have grown up celebrating our most festive holiday with at least several inches of it covering the neighbourhood yards and roads.  We closely associate snow with the time of year that Santa brings the goodies, after all, he comes in a ski-equipped sleigh, not a wagon complete with wooden-spoke wheels.   Children are the ones that enjoy Christmas the most.  The time off school allows them to toboggan down slopes, build snow forts, and skate outdoors.  All that snow has to be cleared from sidewalks and driveways - it is a right of passage to be able to take care of that - not to mention an opportunity to earn a few bucks.  And then there is the beauty and eerie silence of an early morning snowfall that turns an otherwise dull landscape into something trul...

 The favourite ornament Christmas tree, 2006, with some favourite ornaments You know, you have them too, at least one, anyways.  There you are, trimming the tree with the traditional decorations, and you pull that one special one out of the box, and are immediately transported in your mind to some far-away place.  Then someone notices you and this favoured item, and a conversation begins. "I remember that!  I love that one.  Mommy, where did this come from?" "It came from your Grandmother, dear.  I have had that since I was a girl." "It's so beautiful.  One day, I want to have one just like it."   "There are two of them, you know.  A blue one, and a green one.  When you are older, each of you can have one and put it on your own tree." "That won't be for a long time, will it Mommy?" "No, darling.  Not for a long time." And so, every year, that same special ornament becomes the centerpiece for both a memory and a promise...

Christmas with Dogs Josh (Smudge), Leanne (Marble), and Kathryn (Keisha) What Christmas would be complete without family?  And what family would be complete without their pets?  For us, those pets are dogs.  And more specifically, weiner dogs.   Our dogs have always added a fun dimension to Christmas.  First of all, they get excited.  All those presents!  And some of them smell so good.  And then, there are their particular behaviours.  Keisha (on the left) always stood guard over the tree when there were wrapped gifts underneath.  You couldn't approach without a few teeth being bared and a few hairs sticking up on the back of her neck.  Of course, if you came bearing another gift for the offering, you were welcomed with a wagging tail. And then there was the opening of said gifts.  There were several unwritten rules dogs had to follow.  The first, sniff at everything vigorously.  The second was to always help yo...

The Silks and the VanRaes - Christmas on the Island A night of hot chocolate, festive lights, holiday music, friends and family made for an excellent Christmas memory.  My friend, Charles, and I were staying with his nephew in Nanaimo in December 2019, and we all went to a local park where Christmas lights were hung in abundance. It is impossible to be anywhere in North America and not be in the presence of lights hanging from the eaves and the trees everywhere you go.  The long nights are turned into colourful displays of celebration. In some places, most notably parks, there are massive light displays that may even be synchronized to music.  One of the best places I have been is VanDusen Gardens in Vancouver. If you want to find something in your area, type in "Christmas displays near me" into Google and see what comes up.  And when you go, take friends and family with you so that everyone can enjoy what is offered.  A good memory is best shared with loved one...