A Very Merry Christmas

Just five days ago we had a family-and-friends party in preparation for Christmas. Here is a photo of Gianna and Joey, all excited for the upcoming visit from Santa. Tomorrow they will come back to our house for gifts, for dinner, for lots of fun. Christmas was great for me in the 1950s as a child, better in the 1980s as a Dad, and absolutely the best, now, as Poppa.
Here is hoping your day will be as wonderful as mine will.

Merry Christmas

"The true spirit of Christmas lies in your heart. . . . As I've grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who believe." If you have not watched THE POLAR EXPRESS as yet this year, Christmas Eve is the time to watch, to listen, and most of all to hear. Hear the bell, believe, and have a most Merry Christmas!

Vixen and Rudolph

Hours after posting a reindeer shot taken a year ago at Morton Arboretum, I spotted two deer just outside my fence in the back yard. I stepped out of the house, they looked at me in a pose, and I snapped the shot. I thought the first one was Vixen, but I only recognized the one on the right when I blew the photo up. Bet you can name him, too! Guess Santa is preparing for the possibility of fog this Christmas.

Christmas Transportation

One of Santa's reindeer was seen snacking at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle. Certainly tamer than the average wild deer, Donder (I think) continued munching as I snapped more than one photo.

Have a good flight tomorrow night; make sure to get to Gianna & Joey and to Carolyn & Bobby. To me, they are the heart of Christmas!

Geese at Sunset

My final two sunset pictures at West Branch look quiet, but the geese were not as much at rest as they look here. One and then another honked and honked for a good ten minutes, the sound dying with the light.

After I had turned away from the water and headed toward the car, the wonder of a set of branches etched into the darkening sky became the last image of the shoot.

Thin Line of Color

As the sun continued to set at West Branch, darkness set in and the sunset line condensed to a thin stripe of color. The impression was one that perhaps the sunlight, such as it was, was shrinking in tightly to preserve a bit of the warmth. Coldly impressive.

DuPage River West Branch

Shortly after my trip to Meacham Grove, I wound up at the West Branch Forest Preserve, a part of the DuPage River, for some fading twilight shots. Love the drama of the changing light.