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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/me-cowboy-outfit-900-pixels.jpg\" "\\"me-cowboy-outfit-900-pixels\\""){kind=tracking}
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- Blog followers have seen this photo before. My “big present” that Christmas had been this Lone Ranger outfit complete with holster, cap pistols and silver bullets. This cowboy outfit brings back an indelible memory for me. I knew that my mother hid many of our Christmas presents somewhere in the house, sometimes for weeks before the big morning. So before Christmas that year I went looking for them. One morning when she was distracted for quite a while I scoured every hidden nook and cranny in the house looking for them. You guessed it, I found my Lone Ranger outfit high in a closet in the sewing room and almost instantly I knew I’d made a mistake. Christmas was still several days away and I already knew what my “big one” was going to be. And I’d have to act like I was surprised on Christmas morning. Lesson learned, I never looked for my presents again. Not a single time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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- One year my big present was a sled which perfectly matched a big Christmas snowstorm. The Montana wind did its magic on all that snow to the point that the snowdrifts went above the roofline of our house so for days we’d climb up to the peak of the roof and sled down. Great fun for a 7 year old kid.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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- As I got older of course Christmas became more about being with family and friends and the excitement of our children on Christmas morning than it was about Santa Claus and our own presents. My Christmas memories of family and especially my daughter Shannon during the holiday season are endless and wonderful.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ryan-me-xmas-97.jpg\" "\\"ryan-me-xmas-97\\"")
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- Eventually that excitement was inherited by the next generation and for me that meant my grandson Ryan. Shannon and family lived in Las Vegas so I’d often spend Christmas there. This photo means a lot to me, in part because I can see the excitement of Christmas morning in Ryan’s eyes. All these decades later I remember that excitement (and the sleepless night before Christmas) when I was his age.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ryan-marble-game-xmas-97.jpg\" "\\"ryan-marble-game-xmas-97\\"")
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- My Dad, Ryan’s great-grandfather, was both a farmer and a carpenter by trade and one year he made this marble game for Ryan for Christmas. Ryan spent endless hours playing with it and both he and Shannon remember it to this day. For me this photo has generational significance. It’s hard for me to believe that Ryan is now in his early 20’s.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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- Over the years the kindness and thoughtfulness of many close friends during the Christmas season enhanced the holidays. By the early 90’s Shannon was married and I was divorced and living alone so I simply quit having Christmas trees. But one year my mother (living in California at the time) connived with my neighbors and good friends Neil and Vicky to remedy that situation. A few days before Christmas my doorbell rang and there stood Neil and Vicky with a small Christmas tree for me, complete with ornaments and decorations. Having any old Christmas tree meant little to me but having that one<\/em> meant a lot because it represented the kindness and thoughtfulness of both friends and family. I’ll never forget the gesture.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/dad-me-wrapping-xmas-presents-b.jpg\" "\\"dad-me-wrapping-xmas-presents\\"")
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- For many decades, whether we were in California, Montana or Utah for the holidays, my Dad and I had a Christmas tradition of wrapping our presents for family in either my garage or his wood shop late on Christmas Eve. We’d enjoy each other’s company, usually over a drink or a beer or a Christmas toddy during the process. That tradition continued when my parents lived with me for the last five years of their lives. Here we’re in my garage (he called it his wood shop – we teased each other endlessly over its proper designation) wrapping presents on Christmas Eve. The photo is grainy and of poor quality because it was taken in low light with a cheap camera but it’s one of my favorite family photos of all time. And no, the back of my head isn’t really that big – the effect is caused by the flash shadow.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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Sadly I won’t be with family for the holidays this year because we’re all spread out between Colorado (younger sister Sheila), Florida (Ryan), Nevada (Shannon) and Utah (yours truly). But I have the memories and they’ll help to get me through the season. These days my typical Christmas morning tradition is to be out photographing birds because I usually have my shooting locations to myself but at 5 AM it isn’t looking like the weather is going to cooperate so it’ll likely be a quiet Christmas at home. And I’m just fine with that.<\/p>\n
Merry Christmas and\/or Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you have a wonderful Christmas no matter how you celebrate it and no matter what it means to you.<\/p>\n
Please, let’s all remember to be kind to each other and to the earth and all of its inhabitants all year long. That’s the kind of Christmas tradition we can all live with.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christmas means a lot to me but my take on this time of year is likely quite different from yours.<\/p>\n
- For many decades, whether we were in California, Montana or Utah for the holidays, my Dad and I had a Christmas tradition of wrapping our presents for family in either my garage or his wood shop late on Christmas Eve. We’d enjoy each other’s company, usually over a drink or a beer or a Christmas toddy during the process. That tradition continued when my parents lived with me for the last five years of their lives. Here we’re in my garage (he called it his wood shop – we teased each other endlessly over its proper designation) wrapping presents on Christmas Eve. The photo is grainy and of poor quality because it was taken in low light with a cheap camera but it’s one of my favorite family photos of all time. And no, the back of my head isn’t really that big – the effect is caused by the flash shadow.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Over the years the kindness and thoughtfulness of many close friends during the Christmas season enhanced the holidays. By the early 90’s Shannon was married and I was divorced and living alone so I simply quit having Christmas trees. But one year my mother (living in California at the time) connived with my neighbors and good friends Neil and Vicky to remedy that situation. A few days before Christmas my doorbell rang and there stood Neil and Vicky with a small Christmas tree for me, complete with ornaments and decorations. Having any old Christmas tree meant little to me but having that one<\/em> meant a lot because it represented the kindness and thoughtfulness of both friends and family. I’ll never forget the gesture.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- My Dad, Ryan’s great-grandfather, was both a farmer and a carpenter by trade and one year he made this marble game for Ryan for Christmas. Ryan spent endless hours playing with it and both he and Shannon remember it to this day. For me this photo has generational significance. It’s hard for me to believe that Ryan is now in his early 20’s.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Eventually that excitement was inherited by the next generation and for me that meant my grandson Ryan. Shannon and family lived in Las Vegas so I’d often spend Christmas there. This photo means a lot to me, in part because I can see the excitement of Christmas morning in Ryan’s eyes. All these decades later I remember that excitement (and the sleepless night before Christmas) when I was his age.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- As I got older of course Christmas became more about being with family and friends and the excitement of our children on Christmas morning than it was about Santa Claus and our own presents. My Christmas memories of family and especially my daughter Shannon during the holiday season are endless and wonderful.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- One year my big present was a sled which perfectly matched a big Christmas snowstorm. The Montana wind did its magic on all that snow to the point that the snowdrifts went above the roofline of our house so for days we’d climb up to the peak of the roof and sled down. Great fun for a 7 year old kid.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n