Project 365: It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

There may not be much snow on the ground, but it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the 365 project!

We had such a busy day on Saturday that a single photo just wasn’t enough to cover it. First we went to Hillcrest Tree Farm to choose and cut down a Christmas tree. Then Simon and Beloved rode the Beaver Scout float in the Manotick Santa Claus parade while the other boys and I watched. Then we headed home to decorate our full, fat, lovely tree, and finally, not represented in this collage, we celebrated Beloved’s 40th birthday. Phew, that’s a lot of activity for one Saturday!!

(Funny, in one of their odder choices, Getty Images invited the collage for license, and while I’m tickled, I can’t imagine what purpose anyone except me could possibly have for it!)

This one was also invited by Getty the same day I posted it. Okay, I admit, I can see this one as a Christmas card. 😉 (And it’s a damn good thing he’s so cute, too, because I took this the day after Willie jumped up on the kitchen counter and knocked my camera off the counter and on to the tile floor. Lucky for him, the only damage seems to be that the protective cover over the LCD screen snapped. Yikes!)

And more Christmas cheer! Did you know that the real Santa hangs out at the Home Hardware store in Manotick? Who would have guessed it! Seriously, he’ll be there again next Sunday December 18 and it’s worth the trip out there to see the kindest, sweetest, most twinkly-eyed Santa ever — and the free hot chocolate bar with sprinkles was a big hit, too!

(Lucas is looking a little wan in the picture because he’s only just barely overcoming his shyness with strangers. Santa was awesome at putting him at ease!)

This is how I captioned the following shot when I posted it on Flickr: “It’s 5:45 pm, it’s dark, I have a hundred things I’m supposed to be doing, not limited to laundry, making dinner, making lunches, reviewing homework, and sweeping up dog hair, and I don’t have a picture of the day. I look at the lasagne baking in the oven. Nope, that won’t do it. I look at the two kids watching TV. Nope, that won’t do it. I wander around to find the pets, hoping they’re doing something adorable. Nope, nada. I scan my memory, wondering if I have anything sitting in Lightroom that I can pass off as today’s picture. Nope, nothing.

Then, from the other room, the dulcet tones of my oldest plucking out Jingle Bells on the guitar. That will do it!”

This one might look a little familiar — I took nearly this very shot back at the beginning of the 365 project last December. Sue me, it’s been a chore finding photogenic somethings I haven’t snapped to death, especially with only a couple of hours of flat cloudy grey daylight each day!

It was tough choosing just one picture from our sneak-peek tour of the new Ikea, but the colourful towels finally won out in the end. And funny, the morning after I posted this, the Ikea merchandiser who set up this display sent me a note on Twitter saying she liked my picture. The internet really does make a small world even smaller!

Yesterday I went out on my lunch break with my Lensbaby affixed to my camera, specifically looking to shoot a Christmassy kind of shot down in the Market but the light was grey and flat, and nothing looked particularly festive. I’d taken a couple of half-hearted shots, but nothing was too interesting, and I was just about to give up when these fat, white snowflakes started to drift down. It was *exactly* what I had in mind!

And here’s a fun bit of news related not to this 365 project but the one I shot in 2009. I sold my first photo to a magazine this week!! Ottawa Magazine was looking for pictures of the old change huts for skaters on the Rideau Canal (I’m guessing to contrast them to the new fancy ones that the NCC installed this year) and they bought this picture to run on the back interior page of their winter issue!! How fun is that?

My first paid print credit. Woot! And one of my pictures may (or may not) be used in a Mazda commercial in the new year. I’ll keep you posted!

Zoom zoom zoom!!