Our Anticipation is Ending

 

The days of "It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas." are rapidly drawing to a close. We stand at the the threshold of Christmas Eve ready or not.  I am pleased to have chosen this project and I suspect that it may continue into the next Christmas season. The photos that I have taken had the effect of allowing me to reduce holiday stress and wasted motion which permitted me to look at Christmas through my own eyes and not through the eyes of others who are leading the rush to tell us what Christmas should look like.

According to the Christian tradition of Advent (the days leading up to Christmas) is a period of anticipation.  Anticipation is much more than simply waiting.  Within the last week. I have waited in long lines of shoppers, waited for the dentist's drill to prepare me for a crown, and waited to celebrate with loved ones and family members.  My time of anticipation was filled with boredom, dread, and excitement and joy.  By itself, anticipation does not capture the spirit of the holiday.  Elements of longing, mystery, and bonding blend with our anticipation to provide the seasoning for our individual Christmas experience.  Because we are all anticipating something different for the holiday, is the reason Christmas is capable of producing such varied of responses. 

I found that many of the photos I  took were taken with my cell  phone because Christmas seems  to appear in little frames  spontaneously. "You better watch out" couldn't be better  advice for capturing the photos for this project.  There are so many more sides of Christmas that I didn't explore. 

Like cropping a photo, there is only so much you can fit into a frame before it becomes a meaningless blur.  I am grateful that my project allowed me to examine those individual puzzle pieces of our Christmas preparations that when they all come together they give a sense of completeness and contentment.  

Merry Christmas!