Photography

Friendly Friday Photo Challenge – Christmas Preparations

Forestwood
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Hello Everyone!

StPA is finally back after a month offline that was largely spent packing up and unpacking box after box of ‘stuff.’ Stuff that I’ve accumulated through the bulk of my adult life that needed to be moved to a new house. Much of the extraneous stuff has been sold, given away or donated to charity, and so it feels like a new chapter and beginning for me and the MOTH, in our new Home by the Sea.

Meanwhile, on returning to work, I was greeted with the launching of a Christmas room decorating challenge which seems to have brought out a competitive streak in all the staff.

From doorways and even ‘Ralph,’ the skeleton, enhanced with tinsel and Christmas gift wrap, to desks and computers decorated with baubles and Admin staff bedecked with reindeer antler headpieces, some decorations were quirky, funny, pretty and yes, over the top too! A bit like the lady I met in New Zealand, whose home was filled with all kinds of Christmas trees in her own passion for Christmas preparations.

Some of Dianne’s Xmas Trees

It was with this Dianne in mind, that I decided the prompt this week’s Friendly Friday prompt would be:

Christmas Preparations

  • Wohlfart
  • Rothenberg
    Bring on the Gluhwein!
  • Rothenberg
  • Austria
  • Denmark
  • Christmas baking

Your preparations might be packing for a long awaited camping trip, or cooking up a storm of food, or it might be a well earned rest at the beach with a good book or two, (that’s me), or even a walk amongst the Christmas lights or markets with a warming cup of Gluhwein.

happy girl
German Christmas Markets

Whatever your preparations are, I’d love to see and hear about it here at Friendly Friday. Here is how to join in:

Joining the Friendly Friday Photo Challenge

  • Write a ‘Friendly Friday-Christmas Preparations,’ post and include a URL link to this post, tagging the post, ‘Friendly Friday.’
  • Add the Photo Challenge logo, too, if you wish.
  • Copy the published url into the comments below, so other readers can visit your blog.
  • Visit other Friendly Friday entries by following their links. It’s fun!
  • Follow the host blogs to see future FF prompts in 2020.

Remember to post a comment in this post, so we can find you if the pingback doesn’t work.

Christmas gift
Suspicious Santa

Friendly Friday 2020

As Christmas is usually a busy time for most of us, I wish to announce that this is the very last Friendly Friday Challenge for 2019, as the challenge will be in recess over Christmas and New Year.

Friendly Friday

Friendly Friday Challenges WILL begin again from January 31st, 2020, here at Something to Ponder About and the following week we will welcome our new challenge host, Sandy from The Sandy Chronicles. I do hope you will continue to enjoy and post along with us, on Friendly Fridays.

Snow and I have so enjoyed getting to know such a rich and diverse group of fabulous photographers and bloggers. Maybe we should call it Fabulous Friday!

A huge thanks goes to Manja from Manja Mexi Mexcessive for keeping the Friendly Friday Seat warm for the my hosting weeks in the past month and for being a fabulous backup for both Snow and I. Manja has done a magnificient job and I am very lucky to have a great back up host. Her photos are diverse and enthralling and captions legendary.

Christmas Preparations

Is it beginning to look a lot like Christmas in your place?

I must admit that I am pretty low key with decorations this year. I think it is something to do with moving overload !! Which leaves more time for relaxing in our steamy summer weather. And also for some Christmas music. My Christmas is always accompanied by the mellow tones of Bing….

Merry Christmas from Amanda at Something to Ponder About

Published by Forestwood

A philosophic Aussie writes here at StPA, one who will readily admit to loving Scandinavia. I'm interested in global politics and what drives us to be who we are. Scratch the surface and you'll find a practical Environmentalist with an egalitarian bent, trying to unleash a little creativity via the written word. Scandinavian culture, literature and traditions are close to my heart, even though I'm Australian. Travel and courteous discussions greatly broaden the mind, so I travel if I can and am always up for a vigorous, respectful discussion. I'm an avid reader, a writer and I enjoy photography and crafts, particularly traditional art forms. I hope you'll find 'Something to Ponder About,' in my WordPress Community.

64 thoughts on “Friendly Friday Photo Challenge – Christmas Preparations”

  1. Oh, Amanda, only now that I see this is the last Friendly Friday of the year (please keep the name, I love it so much, don’t change it into Fabulous!), you are excused for bringing Christmas in the picture already. Not a fan of the hoopla! Every day is a huge reason for celebration, more and more so. My preparation consists of dreading the visit to amore’s father where I’ll have to keep dog and cat separated again while he keeps throwing sea food left to one and right to the other. Mmmm, sea food! Might not be as bad after all. 😀 Please enjoy your preparations and don’t mind me sitting this week out. That book on the beach sounds best of all.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. changing the name to Fabulous was only a bit of fun, Manja. Don’t panic! Sorry to hear that you are not a fan of the festive season. Although my enthusiasm for it has definitely waned now that the kids are all grown. I am not even sure I will put up a tree this year!

      Liked by 2 people

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    1. We do have a few weeks left until Christmas so I’m sure you will get around to doing more than just writing cards. I hope your Christmas is peaceful and joyful too, Jo. Are you planning any walks during that time?

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  8. I have started zero Christmas decoration!!

    Have a lovely Christmas break and see you next year for more challenges.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Not really. 1/ We’re not home for Xmas celebrations and 2/I’m not a big fan of Christmas so I always postpone anything linked with that period! But I’ll probably let my daughter go crazy on hanging colorful bits and pieces everywhere in the lounge because that’s really what it is about : make children happy!

        Liked by 1 person

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    1. I like your thinking, Moon! If one can find a time to relax amidst the Christmas mayhem, great- as most of us but not all, have a bit of extra time away from work. I used to work in an area of emerge by services in a hospital so know to well the feeling of working in the holiday periods. Do your kids want to celebrate the holidays in a special way?

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      1. My son just likes decorating the tree and keeping cookies and milk for when Santa visits and unwrapping presents in the morning…same as every other kid, I suppose! We are trying to help him understand that this is just not about getting presents:) The holidays for him are mostly about music (he loves it) and if his father is home, then his joy knows no bounds as the two are lost in their own world . Cookies and cake are also part of any holiday and since my husband’s birthday is around the holidays, we are in celebratory mood for the most part of December! what about you? I read about this year’s plans..but in general, do you visit family/friends or have people over? I miss that part… of having family over

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      2. We are having a Danish Christmas at our friends with lots of food, singing around the tree and christmas gift games. Then a quieter day 25th with my parents. That means a lot of travelling and sitting.

        Liked by 1 person

  11. Ah I see that you are preparing for Xmas. Great descriptions in your post. I could imagine it so well. It was so interesting reading about the school socks in Kolkata. Where is that, may I ask?

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    1. Kolkata is the current name of the city of Calcutta. It’s in the eastern part of India in the state of West Bengal. the name change took place around 2000-2001 i think and I still am not that used to saying ‘Kolkata’ instead of Calcutta! You can read about it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolkata. It’s my hometown, a city that is just so very special to me:)

      Liked by 1 person

      2. Kolkata is the Bengali ( the language spoken in the state of West Bengal and by those who are Bengalis all over the world) word for Calcutta. So it’s the same name … in a different language. I am not sure what the need was for such a change but then again I don’t understand politics 😅

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  12. I never start on Christmas – apart from making cake and mincemeat – until well into December. And I refuse to go to shops belting out Christmas musak, which is quite limiting. But limiting it to a few days makes it so much more special. Maybe I’ll start a bit next week….

    Liked by 1 person

    1. The music does become repititive. Good practise limiting the whole Christmas hoopla to a few days. Do you have a special mincemeat recipe. I love mince pies, if they are good home made ones.

      Liked by 1 person

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    1. I think it will be a pretty laid back Christmas but still special, because we are in a new location. I am still unsure if I can find or will put up the Christmas tree! Do you have an artifical or real tree?

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Artificial one, got it second hand so it doesn’t feel so environment unfriendly. We struggled to find a place, too many books meant more bookcases than last year, more toys too… But my son is happy the tree is up!

        Liked by 1 person

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    1. Your photos are also excellent, David. It would be a privilege to receive one of those photographs on a Christmas card. Do you happen to shoot your photos in RAW?

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      1. Both shots were taken in raw although a lot of the time since getting out of rehab in late spring I have been shooting JPEGS. In part because the desktop computer is to old to handle raw files from the new mirrorless cameras but also because it’s more of a challenge getting the shot right in camera using JPEGS.

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  26. Christmas is an excuse to catch up with many friends and always family. For many years, we have attended large family get togethers on Christmas Day, but as the generations move on, these are waning on my husband’s side. We try to have a traditional Xmas eve, this year with some of our Danish friends, so that will be fun. Enjoy the time with your children- that makes real Christmas memories

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