Vintage Christmas

I’ve been organizing my photos. For close to ten years, they have been taken with a digital camera, but I’ve come into possession of some vintage prints that I’ve been scanning and organizing as well.

TIP: Keep your photos scanned, sorted, saved, etc. Friends have lost years’ worth of family photos to computer crashes and errors. That’s heartrending! Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do in today’s snowstorm.

I thought I’d share a couple of vintage Christmas shots. I love to look at the details and see what decorations (and people) used to look like.

My First Christmas - back in the 1960s

Real Fire, Real Tree - Christmas 1981

My mom has always had a star like that one as a tree topper. I've had stars, angels, bows, and a Santa hat. I love to change things up now and then! But my mom is content with her star. The one she has now was bought for her by my brother, she says. She might still have the tree I gave her more than 20 years ago!

The lone stocking in the picture is one I bought for my brother. We didn’t “do” stockings in my childhood. I tried to start a new tradition. I had bought one as part of my gift to my brother (filling it with candy and goofy toys), and I made myself one out of an old sheet that I decorated with magic marker drawings. I completely understand why that one is not hanging by the fire.

I’m watching it snow from the corner of my eye. Snow is an exciting occurrence in this part of the USA. I hope it blankets everything in white. I left my outside Christmas lights up, hoping for a chance to get a photo of my house with snow and lights as if it was a snowy Christmas. (Just a little eccentricity of mine)

The snow is so light it almost looks like rain. I’m going to make some hot cocoa and watch the snow before time passes and it’s too late.

What do you do when you see snow?

Word for 2014 ... Intentional

Last year I chose Joy as my word for the year, and 2013 did its best to squash the joy out of me! So after giving more careful thought for 2014, I’ve chosen Intentional as my word for the year. 

I’ve always had good intentions, so I hope nothing catastrophic happens this year! But I don’t want to live each day merely with good intentions. I want to make intentional use of my time. Why wait for good things to happen when you can make good things happen? 

A Christmas-related business project that I started last year, but then set aside, has been tackled again. I’m tickled with how much I’ve completed in a short amount of intentionally-used time. I hope to tell you more about it in the coming months. 

For now, I’ll just wish you all a happy New Year and ask what you are doing intentionally with your time?