It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Yesterday we lit the third candle on our advent wreath. That means there’s only one more Sunday before Christmas. I don’t know about you, but the days of December seem to pass with lightning speed, and the Christmas spirit has so far eluded me. Maybe it’s the lack of snow crunching under my winter boots; maybe it’s the lack of seeing my breath in -20C weather; or maybe it’s because I have seen Christmas displays in stores for months, thinking “that’s much too early!” This is also the first year I have not worked in the month of December, longing for the Christmas break… yup, that just might be it!

I have not done much photography since the fall, but I wanted to experiment with taking pictures in low light without flash. In this the dark half of the year there’s plenty of opportunity to do just that outside and inside. I love coming around the corner of our street when it’s dark and being met by the sight of icicle Christmas lights on our house. There’s something very simple yet incredibly beautiful in those drooping lights which I wanted to capture. So I grabbed my camera one night recently—but not my coat!—and took a few shots. I am surprised at how clear they are, really, as I went out long after sundown. The pictures are a bit grainy in the bottom half which is further away from the lights, and I have to figure out if there is a way to avoid that. But for my first try I’m pretty happy I have this memory of our house at Christmas.

If it works outdoors, maybe it will work indoors on the same setting, was my thought, and what better subject to try it on than our advent wreath. Jan made it himself for our second Christmas in Canada, and I love the simplicity of it, too: the spruce wreath held up by four red ribbons, one red ribbon hanging down in the middle with a pine cone at the end. And of course the four candles evenly spaced between the four red ribbons creating shadows on the ceiling and the wall. We turn off all the lights in the house and sit quietly watching the wreath while listening to Danish Christmas carols. Sometimes we sing along. I am at peace for those 15-20 minutes… nothing else matters. I feel I captured the essence of this Danish Christmas tradition we have kept alive through all the years. Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without it, or without all the other Danish traditions we hold so dear at this time of the year.

I dare say… could that be a little pang of Christmas spirit I just felt?

Merry Christmas to all of you who read my blog and have encouraged me to keep going. I am blessed to have you in my life.