determination

Since someone wanted to see my bird in the bush with the Christmas lights on my husband tossed the photo into Photoshop and did a little work. Isn’t he the best!

I don’t know about you, but the holidays for me have always been a source of stress. It doesn’t matter if I was the little kid worrying about Santa’s visit, or a mom worrying about having enough money to supply my children with a good presents, or just me being me and worrying.

I venture to guess that every single one of us has had at least one holiday where we felt the blues (or depression if you prefer that word). And my mama knows me well and can always see through my fake cheer. I like to put on a good front of being happy and that used to bother me because I don’t want to be phony. But I truly believe that sometimes we need to act how we want to feel.

You don’t believe me? Well it works. Maybe not immediately but it does work. Just keep walking in your happy shoes and you’ll start feeling it. This time of year brings out some of the worst in people, and some of the best. Don’t lose sight of the good in your life. It’s there. You have it better than some do. And I sure wish I could have slapped the extremely rude lady standing next to me while I took the following pictures, with a huge stick of happy. I’m actually surprised she made it out of there without being slapped by someone.

I hope you can use these photos as a springboard for your holiday spirit if you need it. And if you have no need of a lifting of your spirits I am happy for you and hope you can at least find some beauty here. Happy Holidays ya’ll! I appreciate you all more than you know.

These were taken at the Macy’s Holidazzle Parade in downtown Minneapolis last night. I took some more and you can see them on my flickr page (this is an invite, you don’t have to have a flickr account to see them) but I didn’t want to overload you too much on this page.

For those of you who like the technical stuff, all the photos were shot with a Canon Rebel XTi with the kit lens (18-55mm) on “TV”- shutter priority of 1/50, ISO 1600, camera auto on all other settings and handheld. All are straight from the camera.

tags: christmas  holiday  parade  pep talk  depression  photos  minnesota  lights  christmas lights