Official - Holiday Picture Thread

Original poem by Mike Savad

I remember, One December, A terrible event that happened one night;
I can remember it like it was yesterday, and I knew it wasn't right.
Recalling the sounds of a truck, and an opening door.
The unusual giggles, and something sliding on the floor.
I tip-toed downstairs, and what did i see?
Santa and his henchmen, knocking over my tree.
With a grunt and a shove, they took my gifts;
He looked back in the house and said, this one was mine, take this instead.
I was curious and wondered what it could be, I opened the box and what did I see?

It was filled with old socks! What a gyp!
Maybe I should fill them with rocks, and use them on him like a whip.

So now every year I hope he comes back, So I can trap him in very large sack;
Beat him until he's black and blue, and tell him, never steal my gifts and F*** You.



I remember when my Great Grandpa bought this menorah. Crazy looking thing, wires, gas hook ups, but it was a grand device. Hooking it up was a bit tricky, but it didn't take long. We would all sit around it, turn on the gas and just be happy it was the first night of Chanukah. However we would often forget to turn on the ignition first, and often the room would fill with gas, and the result was usually a huge fireball.

Well even to this day, it wouldn't be Chanukah without the smells of latke's and burning hair.


----Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

A lone reindeer with a predictably red nose and beautiful green eyes pauses in its journey across a vast wintry landscape, stopping to enjoy the blissfully silent snowballs falling from a labyrinthian blue sky.



A humble Reindeer with golden gingerbread fur and an impressive array of candy cane striped antlers, standing in a delightful mid-winter landscape of bountiful snow drifts on a beautiful blue sky day. Looking a bit befuddled, she may be wondering how in the world she’ll walk with such an impressive array. Featuring a delicious mint candy cane border.

Santa's Christmas Tree in the back of his International pickup truck. Driving through the woods with old red, after finding the perfect tree.

Family of Bobcats enjoying the winter weather outside.

A beautiful winter scene with the golden sunset reflecting on the river and people walking along the snow covered riverbank towards the canal boat. There is smoke curling up from the chimney of one of the boats where people are snug and warm inside and celebrating the festive season.



My Merry Christmas Mustang is a 1968 convertible Ford Mustang in the snow. I’m sure it could be used for Santa’s sleigh to deliver parcels to one of your petrolhead friends!



http://www.GillBillingtonArt.com

A 'Rustic Reindeer' makes the perfect accent for a holiday home, especially when displayed in conjunction with other country style Christmas decorations.


Citrus and magnolia are often seen in holiday arrangements in the US South, particularly Colonial Era types of designs. This still life pastel features a single Mandarin orange with green magnolia foliage accented by a red ribbon bow.

One of my few holiday-themed images. It's Hampden at Christmas. For those who are not Baltimoreans, Hampden is an archetypal rowhouse neighborhood and The Miracle on 34th Street is a yearly event on that street. No amount of Christmas excess is too much. And...the Fine Art America software wants to change the word "rowhouse" to townhouse. Some cities might have townhouses, but group houses in Baltimore City are rowhouses, townhouses are built in the suburbs. Local language aside, it won't be long before this block is full of visitors.

Well you know how squirrels get as Christmas approaches...they're all about going overboard with the drinky-poos and huge candy canes and of course they always have to wear the silly Santa hat. But they have a good time and you're going to want to be invited to one of their many Christmas parties because that's where all the fun is.

I am having a hard time wrapping my head around summer being over and the holiday season almost here!

Every year at Christmas, the town puts up a large (fake) tree downtown in the park along the Saint Clair river. They also string lighted garland along the entire length of the boardwalk which is a little over a quarter of a mile, supposedly the longest fresh water boardwalk in the world. They claim that because the longer ones are actually concrete sidewalks, and this boardwalk is actually a true boardwalk:



I took this one actually on Christmas Eve day waiting for my daughter to come home from Ann Arbor for the holiday. My husband went downtown to fill up his car and he said "wow, it's really foggy at the boardwalk". I said "foggy??!!", grabbed my camera and went down to shoot the old pilings in fog, and got this view of the deserted boardwalk on Christmas Eve day:

Well, first of all, thank you for the etiquette lesson of "don't enlarge your images." I've been doing that thinking it was easier to see in a thread, but now - well, I guess if someone wants to see more, they can click.

As for these holiday images, I have to say I've had several arguments about them being "photoshopped." They were absolutely not. I actually went to Hobby Lobby and bought the decorations and brought them to the beach in Oceanside, California, on a lovely overcast morning. I spread a large blanket out with all my decorations and gear, and went to work. I wanted to do some Chanukah shots but Hobbly Lobby doesn't sell anything related to the Jewish holidays and I've been meaning to get over to Target for some dreidels and gelt. Nevertheless, during the shoot, a few items were washed out to sea (sorry, I made my best efforts to retrieve them and still feel guilty for letting the items drift away) and I was pretty soaked by the time I wrapped. I like to give these cards as holiday gifts to my work friends and inevitably they'll say something about how they like how I photoshopped the image. "No, I went to the beach with all that stuff," I say. "No you didn't, it's totally photoshopped," they say. Thing is, when I made those images I didn't even know HOW to photoshop an object into a picture. Now that I do, I may just photoshop a menorah into a beach scene instead of schlepping to Target!

So it's starts today, not starting November 1st?

Yes, as we're not sticking to just 'Christmas' it's perfectly fine.

Alison!!! I can just see you running into the city trying to get your ornaments back lol

its not that enlarging is bad, but when we have image threads, this will get very long very fast if everyone doubles the output size each time. i often do it my self for some threads, but i know this will be a long one.

i chose all holidays because they are usually excluded and christmas is the only focus. being jewish on christmas, you will see that often. so this is for everyone.

i'd be curious to see how they do it in the tropics, like do they decorate the palms? or what about other non religious countries, i know its celebrated everywhere, in one form or another.


----Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

illumination...colored tree lights with bokeh digital painting on a course canvas,Digital Art - Mixed Media

Fun descriptions, Mike. Here's my poem, inspired by you.

Presents, presents everywhere
What is in them? I don't care
Well, that's not true, I care a bit
If I don't get an iPad I'll have a fit
Oh, and the latest iPhone if you please
'Cause I love all products made by Steve
Jobs, that is, if you didn't know
Apple ain't cheap but it's the way to go
So I will bite and drop a wad
___ __ _______ ___ ___ ___ god

(make up your own last line)

Take out your wallet and buy, by god.

Hahaha

Three Christmas Amigos, an acrylic painting, captures an image in paint of outdoor Holiday decorations at a Sonoran Desert Arizona home. Three stuffed characters, a teddy bear, a snowman and a dog, are the three amigos set before a rusty old wagon wheel, arrow sign, mail box and, of course, a giant saguaro cactus. Obviously absent from the winter scene...snow.



Bill Tomsa

https://bill-tomsa.pixels.com

We have fun at Christmas. We found Rudolph in our vineyard.

Let Fuzzy open this holiday season for you and your family this year.



This jolly Old Saint Nick will send holiday greetings to friends and family during the happiest time of the year.

Perfect, Becky, thank you!!

As if Santa is looking in from outside the window

One of my favorite winter traditions, going clear back to when I first got a driver's license, is to take long tramps in the back hills of the Coast Range. No people - just feral pigs and lots of raptors. Love it out there!

.

The Reindeer Collection is here...this is Vixen... collect them all!

Chanukah is the Jewish eight-day, wintertime Festival of Lights, celebrated with a nightly menorah lighting, special prayers and fried foods.

Which part of a gingerbread man, do you eat first? It's an age old argument and there are no wrong answers.

A common approach is to eat it face first, biting off the head silences the cookie, and keeps the screaming to a minimum. Once eaten, the legs are next, it keeps them from running away, and if they do get away, they won't get far without a head. Then the arms then the torso.

Other's like saving the head for last, while they slowly devour the thing a bit at a time, making it watch. Others like eating the icing, and giving the lifeless corpse to the dog.

But I'm more thorough, I eat it from the inside out. When warm and fresh, its the best thing on earth, a real delicacy a true treat. When it cools down, and rigamortis sets in, its not nearly as good. Its also very important that the cookie isn't actually dead, only asleep. After applying Chloroform, you don't need much, pin it down, and keep a watch handy. You don't want it waking up while your doing your thing. Also its important not to knock them out with a blunt instrument, they may break.

They say you are what you eat, and that's very true of this little guy. They eat candy when no one is looking, and their insides are all candy. Everything is edible. And if you buy organic, their meat is both tender and sweet.


----Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Happy Holidays Golden Retriever dogs playing in the winter forest snow!


Season's Greetings Barred Owl in the winter forest snow (Art available without verse)

Angelic Blessings. My Holiday card for 2019. Oil painting.

A couple greeting cards with snowflake ornaments. One is black and white while the other is color.

Another little casein painting for Christmas.

Last year's Christmas card:



This is our 2019 Christmas card. Art Deco never looked so good. After Christmas, you could turn the card around 180 degrees, and then frame it!

"A Christmas Wreath"

A photograph taken while visiting the California beach city of San Clemente. This town knows how to decorate for the holiday season!

Merry Christmas!



https://glenn-mccarthy.pixels.com/

A beautiful winter farm landscape scene from Ozark Missouri.



Some red Christmas light decorated trees in Branson Missouri with the Happy Holidays greeting.

Ahhh, heading home for the holidays!

A bygone Era when giving was simple....a son thank you letter to his father for the generous gift of treats....

Christmas Letter December 28 Circa 1888 New Orleans LouisianaThe perfect holiday greeting card,

Christmas Memoir December 28, 1888 Thank You Father One of a new series titled Vintage Memoirs A holiday thank you letter from my personal collection.

In this letter a son writes home to his father thanking him for the present he received while away at Mt. St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, MD dated December 28, 1888.

Letter from son to his father.....

My Dear Father,
Your kind letter reached me the other day and also the fine box that you have sent me. I do not think that I ever received a fine box than this one. The olives and liquors are very fine and also the candy and cakes. A. Lanata, Jr.

I thank you ever so much for making me such a fine present. Dear Father we have fine weather now, and the rain has not fallen for about two weeks. It is cold also and you may imagine what fine skating we have the ice is very thick and strong so you need not think that I am going to fall in and drown!

Dear Father I will have to close my letter for the mail starts in ten minutes. Wishing you and family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! A. L., Jr.



A vintage family photo

Cajun Christmas Vintage Display With Saint Nicholas Circa 1930This unique vintage classic Cajun Christmas portrait taken circa late 30's in Morgan City, Louisiana my fathers;s younger brother Uncle Johnny dressed in a sailor's uniform.....

This photo was taken early Tuesday morning, from my open back room window

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/wise-men-still-seek-him-christmas-decorations-brian-tada.html



This artwork is based on a photo I took of Christmas decorations in the lobby of my church in Oakland, California.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

Brian Tada
https://PropheticPortraits.net

Happy winter season..!

...and Merry Christmas too!....because Xmas is all about love:

The first photograph is the 2019 lobster pot tree set up by the local fishermen on Town Pier in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They have been erecting this tree for several years now. Decorated with lights and buoys, people visit yearly and sit in the lobster pot chairs to be photographed with the tree.

The second image is my photograph of the 2018 Christmas tree in Town Square in Plymouth. Each year a huge tree is donated to be erected in the historic square. On the sides is the 1749 Courthouse (faintly seen in the photo), and on the other side is the Church of the Pilgrimage (not seen). Behind the tree is the First Parish Church now known as the National Pilgrim Memorial Meetinghouse (not seen). The tree is decorated with ornaments that represent the local non-profit organizations.

Happy Holidays to all.

DAVE
PRINT.REVAD.COM

Fright Before Christmas in the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans, LA while on a photo op... A very different kind of Holiday display.

Snowflake Serenade at the Annul LeFe downtown light display, a outdoor Jazz performs to the visitors at the light festival...

The Juno Pier in Juno Beach Florida decorated in lights and wreaths for Christmas under a starry night sky.




A pine cone Christmas Tree for all creatures great and small. My children and I made this tree for frog and toad, rabbit and tortoise and all the other animals we are blessed to see around our yard.

-Laura Fasulo
Sofloart.com

My painting titled Happy Christmas mr snowman

Just a chance to say merry Christmas to everyone
Have a wonderful time
May you be merry, and have everything you dreamed for.

Angela whitehouse

This is how I feel on Christmas Day. Been invited to dine and then uninvited.