This is our last color challenge for 2021 and we’re going out with a bang—metallic! Just in time for holiday decorating. Nothing says festive like silver bells, gold stars, and coppery tree ornaments. If you decorate a Christmas tree, I imagine you’ll find a few metallic objects readily available to photograph.
As for “metallic taste” in my title, I hope you get the reference to decorating, although this challenge does not have to include décor in any way! I always leave the theme to your clever imaginations. There is something metallic in each image shared today.
My Festive Bon-Bons
Marsha’s Writer’s Quotes Wednesday challenge is “festive,” and I’m keeping it so with all this metallic “color!”
Today, I am also participating in a seasonal link-up challenge “Festive Bon-Bons,” co-hosted by Deb’s World, Retirement Reflections, and Women Living Well After 50.
Following are a series of questions and answers describing my bon-bon preferences.
“I love Christmas, because I can point and scream, ‘HO! HO! HO!’ and claim I was just being festive.”
Unknown
Christmas Favorites
Christmas Tree – do you have one, when does it go up, who decorates it, is there a theme or is it miss-matched? This year, our tree was finally put up after 12 years of languishing in its box. I started putting each branch together on this 9-foot tree before Thanksgiving at the end of November. It was up and decorated by Dec 1st! With a larger home, I have a second, smaller tree in our family room.
“Colored lights blink on and off, racing across the green boughs. Their reflections dance across exquisite glass globes and splinter into shards against tinsel thread and garlands of metallic filaments that disappear underneath the other ornaments and finery.”
Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
I also love to decorate for any holiday. Here are some metallic Christmas decorations in the house…
Swirls of antique stained glass, blazes of brass, forests of carved wood and waterfalls of crystal combine to make up the city’s most fabulously festive interior.
Mimi Sheraton
Christmas traditions? If I’ve learned anything about holiday traditions is that they are not always “traditional” in the sense of the word. When my girls were young and went to their Dad’s home on Christmas Day, we celebrated on Christmas Eve with my family who would travel from San Diego to Sacramento each year. On Christmas Day we went to the movies! When I met Hans in 2009, we traveled each year to San Diego where both sets of families resided, until 2020, when we moved to Washington.
This year, new traditions are being made.
Last Sunday a local bar sponsored a Christmas Tree Lighting event in our town square area. Vendors sold holiday goodies including hot cider. We needed it while we strolled in the 24F temps before the tree was lighted.
We hope this is an annual event and the beginning of new holiday traditions. Now that we are connected to the school district with our part-time substitute jobs (me teaching and Hans maintaining facilities ), we learned of a special concert performed by the high school band/orchestra this week. A free concert featuring Christmas music on a public school campus? Yes, please! Other local events are coming up as well as family events. A definite festive start to December, with snow on the ground for seasoning!
Christmas memories? Keeping things in the present, December 14th marks the day we landed in Spokane, WA in 2020 and started a whole new life. How has it been a year already? We spent a quiet Christmas with my brother-in-law while we stayed in his home for a few weeks. We enjoyed a nice meal and listened to German Polka music and other Christmas songs. With just the four of us (covid restrictions were still in full swing, preventing families from gathering comfortably) it was mostly quiet. On Christmas night it snowed, and I was amazed how much light reflected off the snow.
Christmas Entertainment
Christmas carols – yes or no, faves? Traditional or modern. YES! My love for music is in my DNA. I enjoy just about every Christmas carol and hymns. My Spotify playlists featuring Christmas songs are quite extensive and include traditional pop, quiet instrumental, and music associated with movie themes. As many of you may have read, I hosted the Holiday song lyric photo challenge last week and learned a few new songs from other Sunday Stills participants! Of course, I love “Silver Bells” and Lindsey Stirling’s violin version of “Celtic Carol,” but I also love Josh Groban’s theme song to Polar Express.
Christmas books – any faves you want to tell us about? My reading preferences are extensive but for Christmas, I enjoy a good Debbie Macomber novel, and Mrs. Miracle novels come to mind.
Christmas movies – any you watch year after year? We are Hallmark Channel Christmas movie watchers and are thankful we can enjoy these through our satellite TV, since our internet is too inconsistent to stream video for now. I enjoy the Jim Carrey version of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, but the original TV show version of The Grinch never fails to make me weep as the townspeople of Whoville gather and sing, even without their presents and feast. And it’s not Christmas if I miss A Charlie Brown Christmas or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV shows).
Holiday Food
Expanding on new traditions, I got a stand mixer for my birthday. I have witnesses now that I made my first pumpkin pie in it!
Christmas cake – yes or no? Nope, just in case you mean fruitcake.
Chocolate, nuts or fruit? Chocolate. Any. Time. Of. Year
What’s on the table? We are heading to a huge family Christmas Eve feast!
At the End of the day…All I want for Christmas is… normalcy. We are getting there.
Photo Challenges this Week
Each week I am inspired by my fellow bloggers’ photo challenges. I find it fun to incorporate these into my Sunday Stills weekly themes. In addition to Festive Bon-Bon Challenge and Marsha’s WQW challenges, I want to share my sincere thank-you to Dawn at The Day After for her many weeks of hosting 2021 Festival of Leaves. She shares a great wrap-up.
- Cee’s Flower of the Day
- Johnbo’s CellPic Sunday
- Jude’s Life in Color: Kaleidoscope
- Lens-Artists: Choice
Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders
The Sunday Stills weekly challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post.
- Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
- Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
- Title your blog post a little differently than mine.
- Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post. I also recommend adding your post’s URL into the comments.
- Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
Musical Earworms Left By Last Week’s Bloggers
Sunday Stills is a wonderful community of bloggers and photographers who desire to connect with one another. Below are the last week’s links from bloggers who shared their favorite holiday song lyrics with photos.
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Easin’ Along Image shared in comments
Hugh’s Views and News Image in Comments
Retirement Reflections Image shared in comments
Next Sunday, Dec 19th will be the last post of 2021 as I take a short break for the holidays. Please join me as we “light the night!” Sunday Stills will be back on January 9th with a look back on your photography highlights and your 2021 year in review.
© 2021-2022 Copyright — secondwindleisure.com — All Rights Reserved
Second Wind Leisure Perspectives 
What is YOUR perspective? Please include your name if WP identifies you as “anonymous.