'Winter treats' by Me

Photo credit: PhotoPuddle on Flickr

As well as not blogging recently I've not been taking many photos. Well nothing specifically arty anyway, I do of course have a few zillion of my kids etc sitting on my phone and camera. I have therefore been going through what I have taken to try and find something suitably blog worthy. I like this one. I think I took it about a week before Christmas in a garden centre cafe. I think garden centres are such a brilliant place to visit at Christmas time. They are so festive and usually there is a Santa's Grotto or a few Christmas activities for the kids. This picture could have been set out better but it's not bad for a quick snapshot. And this carrot cake was delicious but huge! I'm not sure if I was even able to finish it which for me is saying something. I shall get taking new photos soon!

'Snow!' by Hugrun Lena

Snow!, a photo by Hugrún Lena on Flickr.

Did you all have a fantastic Christmas? I really hope you did because mine was wonderful. In fact I have loved the whole festive season. We've done so much and been really busy and it's been great. Christmas Day itself was just brilliant. It was definitely made extra special by the children who had such great time. Naturally my four year old was super excited but I was really surprised by how much my eight month old got into the Christmas spirit too. He definitely knew it was a special day. He was a bit of cliche because he did spend a lot of time playing with the packaging and the wrapping paper. But the funniest thing was bedtime. Usually he's so tired by the end of the day and completely out like a light but that day he took ages to settle and just wanted cuddles. I genuinely think didn't want to be left alone. I think he would rather have been downstairs continuing the celebrations.

Anyway, there so much I could write about Christmas but I'll stop now and look forward to the next few days chilling at home with family and friends. It's sort of a shame there is no snow forecast as that would have finished off the holidays perfectly, especially as we don't really have to get anywhere in a hurry. I love this snowy Christmas photo as it really has captured the magic of freshly fallen snow. I love it when it snows at night like this. It makes everything just seem so peaceful.

'Christmas Decorations' by sweet berry me

Christmas Decorations, a photo by sweet berry me on Flickr.

It's Christmas Eve Eve and I must admit I am rather excited although not as excited as my four year old daughter appears to be. She has been on such a high all day and it took her hours to get to sleep tonight. Goodness knows what she'll be like tomorrow. Thankfully my eight month old is taking it more in his stride. All he wants for Christmas is a big pile of wrapping paper to play with and possibly try to eat!

Talking of festive things to eat how cute are these decorations? I must make some edible decorations one year. Although not sure how long they'd last on the tree.

Anyway, time to wish you all a very merry Christmas. I hope you all have a fantastic time celebrating with friends and family.

'329/365 - Festive Monkey' by Samantha Warren Photography

329/365 - Festive Monkey, a photo by Samantha Warren Photography on Flickr.

You know what makes me chuckle? Christmas jumpers! I find it funny how they are rather trendy this year. The reason this amuses me is that in years to come people won't recall that this was the year that Christmas sweaters were cool. There will just be lots of old photographs of people in really cheesey jumpers and people just asking themselves "what was I thinking?".

The same goes for Movember! It's obviously a fantastic cause but Movember won't happen every year forever and like with the sweaters there will be lots of photographic evidence of bad moustaches and no way of reminding people that it was honestly just for charity.

I think this photo is perfect to accompany my thoughts on festive fashions. It's a very well taken and composed picture but what I love the most is Monkey's Christmas jumper. We have one of these Monkey toys at home but his top is nowhere near as cool as this one.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. I hope you are having a lovely and festive weekend. Only three more sleeps!

'Silver bokeh' by LindaScannell

Silver bokeh, a photo by LindaScannell on Flickr.

This time next week it'll be Christmas Eve which I think is very exciting. Christmas Day itself is always fantastic but the night before is definitely the most magical time of the festive season. I've always felt that way even before children but since become a parent it's even more exciting for obvious Father Christmas related reasons!

I found it very hard to choose a photo to share with you tonight. Whilst looking for festive images all the ones that really caught my eye were ones of baubles! I hadn't realised I was so obsessed with them. Or perhaps they are just the prettiest thing about Christmas! I did love this one though. I love it's simplicity and of course it wouldn't be Christmas without a bit of sparkle.

'Olney window' by Clive Wagner

Olney window, a photo by Clive Wagner on Flickr.

I just had to blog tonight as I needed somewhere to express my amazement at how well today's Christmas shopping went. We needed to head out to the shops to get a few bits an pieces so we went to our local town centre. On driving past the car park we usually park in we noticed a huge queue so we thought we'd try elsewhere. For some unknown reason we thought we'd try out a tiny little car park that is always full. Amazingly, there was a space. We didn't even have to wait for someone to leave it was just sitting there all empty. Result!

After a trip to the library and a few shops we decided to have lunch. We were going to grab a coffee shop sandwich but a spare of the moment desiscion meant we had a delicious pizza for lunch at Ask. We felt that we were going to need to get our strength up, after all the next stop was going to be Tesco!

There were more nice surprises at Tesco though. For a start it wasn't really any busier than a normal Saturday and once again we struck gold parking when we got a parent and child space straight away. Then the shop was actually quite quiet. But the best bit was that both our children were complete angels the whole way round. Usually one or both of them get bored.

So all in all we were very pleasantly surprised today. Whoever said that the shops at Christmas are a nightmare didn't know what they were talking about.

Oh and the photo.... I love this. So festive and lovely and definitely looks like a place I'd like to go shopping. It also looks really cozy even though we are on the outside in the cold looking into the warm shop.

I hope you are all having a good weekend.

'Macy's Christmas window in NYC, 2008' by Maryann's *****Fotos

Macy's Christmas window in NYC, 2008, a photo by Maryann's*****Fotos on Flickr.

I couldn't resist another bauble photo with a fabulous reflection. Love the colours too, you've got to have lots of colours and sparkles at Christmas. So what do you have planned for the weekend? Lots of Christmassy things I hope. We need to do a little more shopping, mainly food which unfortunately means braving the supermarket. And we're hosting a family party which I'm really looking forward to.

Happy weekend folks. Hope yours is full of Christmas sparkle.

'love these ornaments' by nanaCompany

love these ornaments, a photo by nanaCompany on Flickr.

I must admit I do like photos of Christmas baubles. I think it's for two main reasons - firstly, all the colours as I love bright and colourful photos. And secondly, they appeal to my slightly voyeuristic side. I do like examining the baubles to see what's going on in the reflection! Luckily for me this photo ticks both those boxes. Lots of lovely pretty colours and I've been able to have a good look at what's going on in the rest of the room!

Happy weekend everyone!

'mince pies' by sarahabnett

mince pies, a photo by sarahabnett on Flickr.

The trouble with Christmas is that I'm not a big fan of Christmas food such as mince, pies, fruit cake or Christmas pudding. Or anything really with dried fruit or marzipan. I make up for it though by eating lots of chocolate and instead on mince pies I always make sure I have a box of apple pies in the house.

Although, I must admit I am coming round to the idea of Christmas pudding. I tasted a spoonful from my husband's plate during our meal out earlier this week and it was actually rather nice.

And then I see gorgeous photos like this that really make me fancy a mince pie. I know I won't like it but these look so delicious I could be tempted into trying one. I am very impressed that the photographer managed to actually get a photo of these without scoffing the lot! I bet it wasn't a long photo session!

'Making Christmas cards' by Me

Making Christmas cards, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

I think I am going to have to give in and let my husband put the Christmas tree up. It is starting to feel rather festive around here. The festiveness really got underway last night when my hubby surprised me with a meal out, just us two. This was fantastic as we NEVER go out together on our own in the evening. We had a delicious meal in a lovely restaurant and it felt all Christmassy because we had turkey dinner and pulled crackers.

This morning it snowed, not for long and it didn't settle, but the flakes were really big and it did seem rather magical. Then this afternoon my daughter and I spent about three hours making Christmas cards. She worked so hard as she wanted to make the cards and write them all herself. Oh and whilst we were doing this we had the music channels on playing Christmas tunes.

So to conclude, I think Christmas is here and I like it.

'Kitty gift' by Lisa-Mari

Kitty gift, a photo by Lisa-Mari on Flickr.

This photo is for my husband. He wanted to put the Christmas tree up today but for me it's way too early. I am starting to feel festive but if the decorations went up now I'd be bored of them by 25th December. I would happily wait a couple more weeks and literally put them up the week before Cheidtmas but we've compromised and the tree is going up next weekend. We have family visiting and the school nativity so it does make sense.

In the mean time I hope my dearest hubby will enjoy looking at this gorgeous tree instead. I love how this has been taken. The fairy lights have been captured so perfectly. And talking about light, I think what I love most is the blue glow you can see outside as it's such a contrast to the warm and coziness inside.

What about you? Is your tree up?

'Christmas Day' by ellieswellies

Christmas Day, a photo by ellieswellies on Flickr.

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas - I know I did. There's so much I could share with you about the past few days but I think I'll just use the word I used in my post about Christmas Eve. Magical. My daughter was just so happy and excited the whole day, in fact even two days later she seems to still be on her festive high. I'm very happy but also rather tired. On Christmas Day in fact I ended up going upstairs for a nap. Oh the joys of pregnancy! But this does mean that I got to experience a bit of childhood magic for myself. I went to bed, went to sleep and when I woke up it was still Christmas. Now how many children have wished that could be the case!

I didn't really take many arty photos over the past few day so here is a Christmas Day photo taken by someone else last year. It looks like it was a beautiful day. I love blue skies like this and snow is always a bit special if you end up with some on Christmas Day. My favourite bit of this is the icicles - check out the weird bent one to the left of this picture. I wonder how that happened.

'Joy to the World.' by CarolynsHope

Joy to the World., a photo by CarolynsHope on Flickr.

Well it's finally here. It's Christmas Eve (and to some of you on the other side of the world it's Christmas Day already!). Today has been a magical day. Had lunch with some great friends I've not seen in ages, went to a lovely children's service at the church and just been putting a very excited little girl to bed. Seriously loving Christmas this year because of her. This is actually her fourth Christmas but because this is the first year she really gets what's going on it almost feels like it's her first Christmas again.

I shall leave you now with this beautiful photo - yes more baubles!! I love the colour, I love the bokeh, I love the simplicity. Merry Christmas everyone.

'Festive stuff' by Me

Festive stuff, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

I decided today to take a few photos of festive bits and pieces from around the house and here's my favourite snap. I like it because it's just so random. It also makes me laugh that we have so many boxes of mince pies in the house and I don't even like them. My husband and daughter love them though so I'm sure they won't go to waste! I'll just stick with the great big boxes of chocolate that are always kicking around the house at Christmas.

Two more sleeps! Squeeeal!

'golden christmas card' by Babycrazy89

golden christmas card, a photo by Babycrazy89 on Flickr.

In a previous post I said this week's photos were going to be all festive and sparkly and I think I've delivered on the festive bit. Not sure I've given you enough sparkle though. Therefore here's a gold and sparkly photo just for you. I love that the only colour in it is gold really but there's still so much going on.

Only three more sleeps! Yay!

'buddy xmas' by chotda

buddy xmas, a photo by chotda on Flickr.

I guess it's the same every year but this year, probably because I'm pregnant, it feels like December has been super busy. So far I've done a photography course in London, found out the sex of our baby, visited friends and family, been to Christmas parties for grown ups and Christmas parties for children, had friends come to visit, been to a carol concert, been to a very excellent pre-school nativity, done a lot of shopping, had lots of nice lunches out, and that's on top of the usual groups and activities that I do with my daughter. To be totally honest with you I'm rather looking forward to a bit of a sit down in January! I'm shattered!

In fact I kind of resemble the cute puppy in this photo right now. What a lovely picture. I'm not sure if the dog's heart was totally in this photoshoot though. Perhaps red and white isn't his chosen colour for headwear! I'm not generally a doggy person but I have to admit this photo is rather terrific. Simple, festive and made me smile.

'Christmas chocolates' by Me

Christmas chocolates, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

I decided that I should add a photo of my own to this week's Christmas pictures and here is my offering. I was a bit bored of taking pictures of the tree so I tried to think outside the box and found myself, well, inside the box. A box of chocolates that is. We were given them as a gift and there seemed no point waiting until Christmas Day to open them. I'm sure there'll be lots of yummy food to keep us busy then. Needless to say there would be a few gaps if I went to retake this picture now!

Untitled image by -Fearless-

Untitled, a photo by -Fearless- on Flickr.

I can't believe that this time next week it'll be Christmas Day. I also can't believe the lack of festive images on my blog. I must do something about that so have decided that this week will be lovely and sparkly and festive here on 'It's all about the photos'!

Let's get the ball rolling with this lovely picture. It's another one of a snowy tree but it has a completely different feel to the pine tree image in my last post. Firstly, I really love the reflection on the bauble. It's a lovely picture itself. I also like all the detail, how the snow is kind of melting on the tree and I love the little splash of red. And how cute is that blue colour? Really makes the photo vintage looking. Another one that would make a great Christmas card. I've I feeling I might be saying that about very picture I post this week though.

'christmas balls' by anna yuson

christmas balls, a photo by anna yuson on Flickr.

Well what do you know, it's the first day of December. Christmas really is on its way now. I am pleased how organised I've been. Most of my presents have been bought and wrapped and most of my cards have been bought and written. I'm very sure I'll still be rushing around at the last minute for something I've forgotten though!

Today's post was inspired by Homebird who said she loved pictures of fairy lights and anything with a bokeh effect. Here is a lovely bokeh, fairy light, Christmassy photo. I love it because it's sparkly and pretty. I like that it's a very pink picture but also manages to still be Christmassy even though pink isn't really a traditionally festive colour. And of course because there's a reflection I'm getting right up close to the screen to see what's going on the background.

Happy 1st December to you all.

'Gingerbread house - before' by Me

Gingerbread house - before, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

An impulse buy at the supermarket this weekend let us to kick start Christmas in a yummy way this evening. We bought a build your own gingerbread house kit and it was actually rather a fun thing for us to do together as a family. I had to get a few pictures as soon as it was done of course as this didn't actually stay standing for long. Shortly after this photo was taken the demolition began. Mmmmm, gingerbread!! And we weren't too greedy - there's plenty left for us to tuck into tomorrow. I have a feeling we may have started a new Christmas tradition here. I can definitely see us doing this again next year!