It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

I thought I'd share some Christmas pictures with you! I'm going to be entering several photography contests, but I don't want to clutter up the blog with a million and one posts. Thus, I am going to put all of the pictures here in one big long post-- and will be updating this post with any new photos. 

Enjoy!

1.

This little ornament is so beautiful-- pure, simple, and patient love and joy, awaiting the birth of the Savior!

Notice that I used a new technique-- bokeh lights!

2.

This was another attempt at Bokeh Lights. All I had to do was set my camera to macro, low apeture, and no-flash, step 10 feet away from the Christmas tree, focus on my hand, move my hand, and take a picture!

...sounds much more confusing than it is. :)

I ran the bokeh shot through Photoshop a couple of times... :)

I also tried to do some Custom Bokeh Pictures, and seen in the tutorial at Kevin and Amanda, but there are always downfalls to not owning an SLR camera.

3.

My parents gave me free reign to decorate a shelf in our living room. I went all out-- totally dismantling and re-decorating our wreath, wrapping boxes, promising to climb up there each week to water the poinsettias...

4.

There is nothing more exquisite than a collection of little Nutcrackers. I am seriously in love with these. And isn't the sepia tone perfect?

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Of course, one must never forget the reason for the season. No matter how overused that phrase may be.

This is one of my favorite music boxes of all time. It is so beautiful... Be sure to "click to enlarge" on all of these!

Older Photos 

Photos I took a few years ago that I still think are rather good. I love discovering forgotten files.

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These photos are from a failed attempt at a photoshoot last year.

10.

Photo Challenges

This is my first time doing these photo challenges, and I'll admit it-- many of these challenges I just heard about. (Mostly by bloghopping links from Aspire and on from there.)

Photo #1 ~ Little Drummer Boy

Photo #4 ~ Nutcrakers ~ Week One, Decorations
Photo #2 ~ Bokeh Lights ~ Week Two, Christmas Lights
Photo #8 ~ My Sister Laughing in the Snow~ Week Three, Faces

Photo #8 ~ The First Snow

Photo #11 ~ Firewood

Photo #8 ~ The First Snow

Photo #2 ~ Bokeh

Photo #4 ~ Sepia Nutcracker Family

Photo #7 ~ The Holy Family

(I would also be entering the handmade Christmas presents part of this Festival, but many of my family and friends read this blog... So none of it is going up here until after Christmas!)

And on that Note...

Dear readers, do you like how I've clumped all of these photos together in one post? This is an ARTS and crafts blog, and photography is one of the arts I enjoy. However, the focus is not on photography. In the future, should I always do long posts like this that I occasionally update? Or should I make new posts? 

Also... do you like any of these photos? Which are your favorites? What could I improve? 

Leave a comment, please!