Picture the Holidays -- Days 2 and 3

Theme for Day 2 was Reframing the Season.  Looking at the holiday season in new ways.

My husband put up the tree on Friday night and I decorated it.  I was tired.  I remembered the prompt and thought it'd be cool to take this shot just straight out of my iPhone via Instagram.  I love that the shot is imperfect as well as my living room: items strewn about, tree skirt not on yet, etc.  Imperfect.  Just like life.  Just like the season.

And the ironic thing I'm willing to admit is last year we bought a new, skinnier tree because a) it fit better in this space than our other fatter one and b) it takes less time to decorate.  Every year I end up decorating the tree on my own.  And I don't like that because it feels like a chore.  But this year Miles helped out a little, and then I realized one reason why I end up doing it alone.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to a stupid thing like a Christmas tree.  I want all of the ornaments of a certain kind spread out, I want my favorite ones front and center, and I want the angel, star, and heart ones near the top.  Meredith was gone at a football game while I decorated it this year.  I just asked her and she said she would have helped.  Lessons learned.

Theme for today, Day 3, is All You Need is Love.  Can't help thinking of the Beatles whenever I hear that phrase.  Again, I remembered the prompt in the evening.  Otherwise I may have gone looking for hearts outside while it was still daylight.  So instead, I searched my tree for some hearts or the word "love" when I found this glass or crystal heart.  I don't remember if it was gifted to me or if I bought it in a shop somewhere.  All I know is that I love how it glistens.

As I went to upload photos in my camera I found a series of self-portraits by my daughter.  This really filled me with love.