308: What Happened to Thanksgiving

I am putting forth some effort to resurrect my blog.  So today I visualized 3 possible images and wouldn't you know it.  There was no way to make them work.  So after dark I headed to Downtown Monroe, where there are always good windows to shoot.  Not tonight!!!  It is not even Thanksgiving yet and all I saw was Christmas decorations  @#$#@%(&.  Call me old fashion, backwards, primitive, what ever; but Christmas season DOES NOT start until the day AFTER Thanksgiving.

It took a while but I finally found one window pane not out of season.  And this area made me think of my granddaughter Joy Anna who got married recently and the theme for her wedding was a "BOOT and SCOOT".  Well you can never say us TEXICIANS are opinionated or stick strictly to traditions.. 

 

BOOT and SCOOT

300:The Meaning of Christmas

Message from the Manger

Ever since I started this project I have said God provided me with some images, These Images have turned out to be the better ones not only photographically but with messages for others. This time It was not the best image and possibly not the best message for others but the very best message for me. So here is the story.

Last Christmas I sat out to photograph a manger scene and in my search I found only a couple none of which spoke to me through the camera. This year I was determined to accomplish my task. Of the three that I found this is the only one I felt might provide some artistic value.

The Manger

It did say what I wanted, we need to put the Birth of Christ in the spotlight in front of everything else. This is the real meaning of Christmas. But there was another message.

Over the years a lot of bad things have happened to me during the Christmas Season. These resulted in The Christmas season being a rather difficult time for me. As I was taking this image I noticed a car creeping buy and my first thought was here come the Cops, again. But then I noticed the car stop a few houses up the road. Four people go out of the car each carrying an arm load of stuff. They went up to the house placed the stuff on the front porch and three returned to the car. Then the person who had remained on the porch knocked on the door and ran back to the car. The car sped away and a minute or so later a lady came to the door saw the stuff and looked up and down the street but saw no one.

As I continued to watch from my concealed location, I saw the stuff contained clothes, food and toys. No matter what you say there is a Santa Clause. The real moral of the story love. Love is the sharing with others and never expecting anything in return. And what better time to get started sharing love on a daily basis, than right now during the Christmas Season. AS for me I need to focus on the Good not the Bad. (Thinks to the folks at coffee this morning who set the stage for this message.)

Merry Christmas and God bless Each and every one of you.

Elmo Clause

299: The Christmas Hat

The Christmas Hat
A Christmas Story

Thank goodness I have always been a nice jovial chap. RIGHT!!! I was so jovial that when my second youngest daughter was about 3 looked me straight in the face and said: “You Ozzie Gouch” and walked away. But then came the Christmas Hat.

The Christmas Hat

The story goes like this. Right after Thanksgiving Day several years ago, I was shopping at the local big box store. When I came out I notice a small crowd gathered around my truck. As I got to my truck I was found out that a lady had backed into my truck, as she was getting out of her parking space across the aisle. The lady was really upset and after I surveyed the damage, I told her there was not a problem. It took several minutes to convince her that that nothing was wrong, and there was nothing wrong. All she had done was changed the character of the patina I had been collecting on my truck for several years. The only issue was she had stolen some of the patina, and it was on the rubber bumper guard of her vehicle, so I reclaimed the stolen patina.

After she finally calmed down and realized I had no intention of trying to carry her and her insurance company to the cleaners, or even making any type of claim for that matter, she reached into bag of stuff she had just purchased an produced the Christmas Hat. She said she did not know why she had bought the hat until right then. She told me with my long white hair and beard, I needed the hat to go along with my Christmas Spirit. I started wearing the hat and noticed people smiling at me and that made me feel good and I started smiling back and telling everyone MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Over the intervening years I have worn out several hats because I can hardly wait for the day after Thanksgiving to put on my Christmas hat, fill my pockets with candy canes and go out and enjoy the season with others. So this is my Christmas Card I am sharing with you.

God Bless and have a Merry CHRISTmas.

THElmo
AKA  Elmo Clause

This Second part was added Dec 10, 2012

The CHRISTmas Hat --- Cont’..  A true life tale..

Last season the CHRISTmas hat was walking in Walmart when a young lady came up from behind and  tugged on his sleeve.  As the Hat turned around the lady said “My little girl thinks you are Santa Clause and wants to tell you something.   The Hat replied in likely the most profound statement he ever made: “Well you can never be for sure who Santa might be. “  As the Hat got down on one knee and the little girl began her tale..   “ Santa, I made a mistake I wrote you too early and asked for only one of the five things I listed. But I have found what I really need, and is it too late to change my request?”  And through the bright and sparkling eyes, she continued describing a doll.  The Hat look up toward her mom, who you could tell was really down on her luck, and mom with a tear in her eye shook her head no.  Now what is the Hat supposed to say?

Then the Hat out of the corner of his eye noticed a man who had been watching signaling with his hand and saying no don’t tell her.  When the man saw he had the Hat’s attention he leaned over and whispered something in the mom’s ear and expression of joy and amazement filled the mother’s face and the man turned and walked away.  And the Hat then told the little girl he thought it might be possible to get the order changed.  A short time later the man sought the Hat out and explained he had lost his wife and daughter several years before this was the first time he had felt the CHRISTmas sprit since and he had bought the doll for the little girl and sneaked it to her mother so the little girl would be surprised on CHRISTmas morning.. 

Neat story and it is true, but there is more…  Last week when the CHRISTmas Hat was at Walmart, and a young lady walked up from behind and tugged on his coat sleeve.  As the Hat turned around the young lady said “Do you remember us?”  As The Hat struggled to recognize the face, she reminded him of the afore mentioned incident and he acknowledged her.  Seems they had been looking for The Hat to tell him thanks for being there to make there last CHRISTmas bright.  Then the Thank you continued, it seems that because the Hat had been there last year, beginning on the day after Thanksgiving this year the little girl had a new dad, mom had a new husband, and the man had both a new wife and a new daughter..

Now you know the rest of the story… And the moral?
Sometimes it is best to be available and let God do the work….

175: I'll Be Home For Christmas

Another from the Tent City

I'll Be Home For Christmas

I started to name this "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" as it was a recurrent topic of discussion. The white on the ground is dirt that is over exposed in the reflected sun light, not snow.

174: Fire Place at Christmas Eve

Fire Place at Christmas Eve

There is a lot of controversy among street photographers about photographing the homeless. The discussion centers around exploiting the less fortunate for image impact. Today I felt compelled to photograph these homeless folks to remember a very special event.

This afternoon after it warmed up to the mid 40's I headed out to the homeless tent city to get a picture. But this was not the first time I had been there today. Earlier in the day I had met some church folks to facilitate them delivering some much needed items to the homeless in the tent camp. The items were specific items on a list I made by talking with the guys at the camp.

While I was there, this afternoon, a young couple with 1 2/3 children showed up and wanted to set a time to bring them christmas dinner. The Homeless Guys agreed to any time but 5 this evening because they were going to a Christmas Eve service at yet another church.

The events of the day have proven to be A Christmas to remember for me.

I stayed for a couple of hours and sat around the fire chatting. One comment stuck in my head. They said the they really appreciated all the help they received over the Christmas Season, But they wished some of it could be spread out through the year. So that begs the question; Do we have year round compassion or is it seasonal? Now You Know The Rest of the Story.

May your Christmas be as Joyous as mine and remember we are honoring the greatest gift ever given to man. Happy Birthday Jesus.

*****
ps: Just in case you are wondering that is a pork chop and roll on the grill.

167: A Christmas Carol

An older image that keeps coming to mind at Christmas time. It reminds me of Dicken's Christmas Carol.

A Christmas Carol

166: The Sound of Music

Christmas Caroling