Lake Erie at Midday

298/365

This scene looked a whole lot different, when we were here last summer. For starters, there were no ice chunks in the water. And the sun was... um... bright.

Final Approach into DTW

297/365

Blue skies above, frozen flat tundra below. Must be Michigan.

Tea Time

296/365

Trying to chase the chill...

You Say You Want a Revolution...

295/365

It's a blank notebook, a souvenir for Prince Firstly, from our friend Elise's recent trip to China. With the great Communist leaders pictured on the cover, she said it was the most "macho" item she could find in the shop. Maybe it's all the Beatles RockBand we've been playing, but my first thought when I saw it was the Fab Four's warning:

But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao

You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow...

I-84 East

294/365

And now for something completely different....

With Christmas behind us, so ends my holiday theme. I will confess to being glad it's over. I'm not sure if it was the constraint of a theme, or because of the hectic holiday weeks, but I never really felt inspired by this self-assignment. I bet there's a lesson in there somewhere, about self-knowledge and

-motivation, and creativity.... something to ponder for the new year.

One more confession. I would be remiss if I did not mention that today's humble image was inspired by my pal PG, and his award-winning photo. So thank you, PG, for saving me from the lightbox tonight...

Merry Christmas!

293/365

I hope you had the same kind of peaceful, joyous day that we had here. We reveled in having no plans, and spent half the day in pjs, watching the kids play happily together with their new loot. It was like a Christmas miracle, brought to us by Beatles RockBand.

Christmas Eve

292/365

The Reason for the season...

Invasion of the Little People

291/365

Oh, the Noble Duke of York,

He had ten thousand men.

He marched them up to the top of the hill, and he marched them down again.

And when you're up, you're up.

And when you're down, you're down.

And when you're only halfway up, you're neither up nor down!

Amid a boisterous holiday gathering of extended family, young children kept busy - for a time - laying siege to this corner of the living room.

Mr. CM Does his Holiday Baking...

290/365

As I understand it, the memo went out at work that there would be a cookie swap... with the postscript that, well, probably just the ladies would participate. Not being one to conform to typical gender stereotypes (guys like cookies, too!), he set to baking up a batch of his favorite molasses cookies to share.

It started like this: "Hon, where do we keep the molasses?"

But seriously, when this guy gets his cookie mojo fired up, look out! His cookies come out perfect, every time. No joke. And he does chocolate chip, too!

Candy Canes

289/365

I'm not much for candy canes these days. Lovely to look at, too sticky to eat. However, I recently discovered a new way to get this seasonal taste fix. It's called a "Peppermint Mocha." Those I could have every day...

White Christmas!

288/365

The much-hyped snowstorm finally arrived, and delivered a picture-perfect layer of white fluffy stuff for the holidays.

The Rink, Installed

287/365

Christmas came a little early for the skaters at our house. After enduring all of the building, filling and chilling... we finally get our reward!

Up on the Housetop

286/365

It must be Christmas magic, drawing the girls to the piano... love that.

We (I) struggled with abandoning lessons this year, but it warms my heart to see that she can still bang out a few Christmas carols, as well as Happy Birthday, when the need arises.

The Tree, Installed

285/365

Holiday preparations make for hectic days. I look forward to quiet nights by the tree.

Stringing Along

284/365

The elves are keeping busy...

Mall Santa

283/365

Santa waved to me! That's a good sign, I think...

Happy Hanukkah

282/365

Ours is not a designer tree. There is no "theme", or "color scheme." We cover it with a random assortment of ornaments -- some new, some old, many crafted by little hands from construction paper, tempera paints, popsicle sticks, and yes, glitter. Nor are they limited to one holiday or tradition...

First Christmas

281/365

There's a critical period for making this kind of introduction. A very brief time in a young child's life, when you can plop him onto Santa's lap for a photo without a back-arching, terrified-screaming, wide-eyed, clinging-for-dear-life-to-mommy protest. I think my nephew just made it in under the wire.

Which is especially nice for this Santa. (Spoiler alert!) You may have seen him before...

Rein-dog?

280/365

Wally isn't feeling the holiday spirit yet. He has no interest whatsoever in wearing his antlers. Not even for a photo!

It's ok. Best not to force the issue. He'll come around.

The Pyramid

279/365

Last year, we visited some friends who had one of these displayed on their dining room table. It's a German Christmas Pyramid -- the candles create rising hot air, which spins the blades at the top, causing the levels below, depicting Nativity scenes, to rotate. All of us were charmed by this low-tech wonder, and a couple of weeks ago, I scored one on ebay. This was our first night to enjoy it, and we let it go until the candles melted away.

Pardon the Interruption...

278/365

We interrupt our holiday theme to bring you a not-so-great photo and a little bragging...

See the two posters on the left? The ones with the beads? Those are my photos! They were on display at the Massachusetts Conference for Women, promoting Confidence Beads to the 5,000 women in attendance. What a kick to see these images larger than life, and so beautifully put together.

I'm also happy to report that the beads sold very well. Sold out, in some cases. In fact, several ladies bought them as holiday gifts for friends, co-workers, family members and themselves. So, maybe this post isn't so off-topic after all...?

Haiku for the Holidays

277/365

Glowing red and green

Bubbling, silent in the dark

Lighting Christmas nights

(With apologies to any haiku aficionados out there! )

Angels and Shepherds...

276/365

Things are starting to fall into place...

Advent Calendar

275/365

Ah, Trader Joe's... gotta love a $.99 Advent Calendar. Even if the chocolate inside is kind of blech. My girls were happy to make up for lost time by eating their way through the last seven days. Prince Firstly, having very high standards for a teenage boy, would sooner eat the cardboard flap.

Christmas Card Conundrum

274/365

You would think, that after taking photographs every day for the last nine months, scaring up a decent shot of the kids would be easy. You might even assume that after nine months of daily shooting, even if I didn't have a nice photo of all three for the Christmas card, then it wouldn't be too hard to just make one. Right? Not so much.

Long story short, I'm considering combining three individual shots on the card, instead of one group shot... I like this one as a start.

The Tree, Step 1

273/365

Progress comes in baby steps. We got the tree. Now it waits, patiently by the back door, until we get around to installing it. Soon!

Christmas in the Square

272/365

Our town ushered in the season with its annual "Christmas in the Square" festivities last night. Downtown streets were closed to cars, and families thronged the square, hoping to catch a glimpse of Santa as he arrived by firetruck. We avoided the crush of the Santa mob, and enjoyed some great performances of holiday tunes at the other end of the block.

But take a look at my favorite part of the evening. No, it's not snowing. Yes, that is Jimmy Stewart up on the wall.

As It's A Wonderful Life projects on the rear wall of shops, kids gather around the large vent that covers the train tunnel that burrows under the Square. Local artist & man-about-town Gary Nisbet covers the grate in cotton balls & bits of fluff, and posts the train schedule. The crowd & the excitement build as the appointed times draw near. When the train finally passes underneath, you feel the rumble, and hear the WHOOSH... and then you see all the fluffy bits fly up in the air, and fall softly, like snow. With George Bailey looking on.

A Peek Inside

271/365

My neighbors have their tree up already. I've always wondered what that would be like, but can never quite pull it off. I'm pretty sure I still have Thanksgiving leftovers in my fridge, and there's a pumpkin on my back porch.

So far, this theme business involves a lot of lurking in other peoples' yards and sneaking photos. Hardly seems in keeping with the spirit of the season. Must find my holiday mojo...

Back Door

270/365

A funny thing happened on the way to take my photo today... My intent was to walk around our downtown, and capture some seasonal details. Along the way, I ended up calling an ambulance for a woman who had been out walking her dog when she took a bad spill. When the dust settled and the ambulance drove off, it was up to me to deliver Curly the terrier back to his house.

I probably should have taken a picture of Curly. But I couldn't quite figure out, in the few minutes it took to drive him home, just how he would fit with my newly-declared holiday theme. Put a bow on him? A Santa hat? He was a sweet guy, but nothing about him seemed too Christmas-y, and I had no bows or hats on me. Besides, how appropriate is it to go photographing a stranger's dog, especially if that stranger is incapacitated and in an ambulance, and has trusted you to deliver her dog safely home to an empty house?

So, I pulled into his driveway, and tucked him inside the house through the back door, feeling somewhat defeated. This was exactly the sort of random happening that cried out to be documented in photographic fashion, and I couldn't, because it wasn't holiday-related?! Who makes up these rules, anyway?

As I turned to go, I noticed the wreath on the door, with the striking green bow, and the red berries in the windowbox. My last chance. No neighbors watching... just one quick shot... that's ok, right?

Start With a Wreath

269/365

I slept in on Black Friday. Avoided the malls like the swine flu all weekend. And skipped Cyber Monday. As yet, I have done no Christmas shopping, no wreath-hanging, no light-stringing, no tree-trimming. Which brings us to today... let's call it Slacker Tuesday.

But, it's also now officially December, so it's probably time to get with the program.

I'll start right here. From now until Christmas, I'll post a holiday-inspired photo each day. It will be like an Advent Calendar of images! Which will be helpful, because I don't have one of those yet, either...