painting of snowman decorating a tree
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: Show Me that You’re #Festive

Are you feeling festive this season? It has been five years since I posted about the theme “festive.” Let’s go back in time for a moment.

“Christmas will always be, as long as we stand, heart-to-heart and hand-in-hand.” –Dr. Seuss (from How the Grinch Stole Christmas)

Remembering Holiday Festivities of December 2018

We hosted a Japanese exchange student for one week in December five years ago. The students were part of a cultural and educational exchange program hosted by a nearby church/private school for grades K-12. During the day, these students engaged in school and holiday activities.

Festive neighborhood light displays
My exchange student and I

The program also hosted several evening events, including visiting local festive neighborhood light displays. Our exchange student celebrates Christmas with her family, but only the retail stores in Japan have decorations up for the season. She got a kick out of seeing the neighborhood Christmas lights, the interior home decor, and hearing Christmas music.

Red Christmas Light
Macro red light
Festive Purple Lights
Purple Christmas lights

December 2018 was quite festive in many ways!

We also participated in our first Jingle Bell Walk and Pup Crawl. I fondly remember our good friend and his dog (who still live in NorCal), and of course, little Aero!

“One of the most enduring friendships in history; dogs and their people, people and their dogs.” ~ Terry Kay

SPCA PUP Crawl
SPCA PUP Crawl, 2018

The following week our neighbors got married in their backyard (next door to our Sacramento home). It was quite festive for a small ceremony. No photographer was on hand, so I happily stepped in and captured this winning shot of the happy couple. I surprised them with a canvas print of the image.

Wedding photo

Outdoor Festivities of Today

“There are three stages of man: he believes in Santa Claus; he does not believe in Santa Claus; he is Santa Claus.” – Bob Phillips

The Stevens County Fire District No. 1 traditionally escorts Santa and his sleigh through the neighborhood streets during the first two weeks of December, a much-anticipated and enduring tradition! After two years of living here, we finally saw them in action. They stopped right in front of our house! We felt as giddy as kids when he passed out the candy canes!

Santa visits in the snow
“Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.” – Walt Disney

Yes, there is snow here this winter, thankfully not as much as last winter (so far). Which makes outdoor decorating a little easier.

Lighted yard decor deer

Deer decor seems to be a popular theme with other neighbors, too.

Deer Decoration
Reindeer lights
green brushstroke

Do we have to be children again to feel festive?

“Above all, never let age extinguish the fire of your inner child.” – S. Ajna

Christmas chaos
Family Christmas Chaos with my nieces in 2016

“You’ll never be bored when you try something new. There’s really no limit to what you can do!” – Dr. Seuss

painting of snowman decorating a tree
Festive Painting at a friend’s house

Inspiring Photo Challenges This Week

Each week I find inspiration from my fellow bloggers’ photo challenges. I enjoy incorporating these into my Sunday Stills weekly themes.

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • 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 to the comments.

This Week’s Featured Bloggers

Sunday Stills is a wonderful community of bloggers, poets, artists, and photographers who desire to connect with one another. Below are this week’s links from bloggers who shared their FESTIVE photos. I add these all week as new links are posted.

This is my last Sunday Stills challenge until December 31, when I publish my annual Year-in-Review post, sharing my favorite images of 2023. If the festive holidays find you too busy to post anything that week, the theme is also open from January 7 through January 12. I will share your links during those two weeks.

Please visit my Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Page for details.

  • Dec 17 FESTIVE
  • Dec 24 No Challenge—Merry Christmas!
  • Dec 31-Jan 7 2023 Year in Review

What’s festive in your life as you prepare for the holidays?

Please enjoy a wonderful Christmas and holiday season from our house to yours!

Merry Christmas to you all!

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101 comments

  5. So much holiday spirit right here Terri! We might not need children to achieve the holiday spirit, but they do help make that spirit come alive. Thank you for all the wonderful photos and memories you share. A very Merry Christmas to you!

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  21. Super fun and festive, Terri. My husband and I got a chuckle out of this quote: ““There are three stages of man: he believes in Santa Claus; he does not believe in Santa Claus; he is Santa Claus.” – Bob Phillips” Lol. So true! Thanks for the morning merriment, my friend. Happy Holidays.

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    • Thank you, Cheryl! Now that you mention it, there were several cute antler and Santa hats adorning dogs’ heads and plenty of silly dog sweaters and coats. We’ll be traveling south on Dec 27 and look forward to it. Merry Christmas to you and your family!

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  26. The fire department Santa and lights are so excellent, Terri. And to have had them stop right outside your house, too! And the pup crawl is a beautiful idea.

    You’ve captured the word ‘Festive’ so well. And I must tell you that I am a festive kid all year.

    How wonderful to have attended a winter wedding at Christmas time, too. I love how the groom’s tie matches the bride’s dress.

    It sounds like you are on course to have another white Christmas. Enjoy every moment of it.

    My entry will be in my Wordless Wednesday post.

    Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas.

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    • Thank you, Hugh! This holiday season, we’re feeling especially festive as we make our packing lists foe our trip south. We’ll spend Christmas eve with our family at my SIL’s then a quiet Christmas day. We still have enough snow on the ground to qualify it as a white Christmas. Wishing you a super festive Christmas and holiday. Hugs to your pups and family! 🎄❤️

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  27. It’s so fun to look back at your festive memories. We had a foreign exchange student for 3 weeks in 2009, it’s was fascinating to see what she found interesting about our lives. The smiles you captured say it all! I grinned at Aero making a cameo reappearance too. Your taking us back to years ago makes me wonder, will we look back at this pandemic timeframe as fondly as your photos represent looking back to 2018 with so many smiles and joy? It’ll be wonderful to see your favorite photos of 2023 to prove to us all that we can and that despite the challenges, we did have moments of joy! I hope you have safe travels and so many happy moments you can’t list them but remember them in your heart! 💖💗😍

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    • Thank you, Shelley! Photos allow us to see and remember events of years past. Sadly too many of us will remember the pandemic in negative ways. But in our case, 2020 was a year of big change for us and most of my family in terms of moving, etc. Had we waited we would have missed the opportunity especially here in our area where the housing boom has changed the face of real estate. I’ve paid attention to God’s subtle elbow nudges over the years and taken action. We are really looking forward to spending time in AZ soon. Merry Christmas to you and your family, Shelley 🎄❤️

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      • You’re welcome. Yes, I remember reading about how you were moving during the pandemic and how happy you were with those nudges from God, you were wise to listen and take the leaps of faith that all works out for the best.
        Safe travels and enjoy each and every special moment (and the warmth!). 🎄🥰🥳📷

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  29. What a fun and festive post, Terri! 😀 Love the idea of the pup crawl. The sight of Santa in his sleigh, right in front of your house, must have been a surprise, not to mention a great photo op!
    The lights, of course, are magical, and exude a feeling of warmth and contentment. I hope you don’t get too much snow – just enough to make it pretty. ❄️ For us, it looks like a dreary rainy Christmas.
    Thanks again for hosting this blogfest. Wishing you and your family the happiest of holidays! 🎄
    Lights, lights, and more lights! 🌟 https://thedogladysden.com/festive-sundaystills-on-a-monday-photography/

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  31. Just enough snow for some ambiance is nice for Christmas Eve Terri – at least you’re not having your non-stop snow from November like last year. It looks like we will have rain, rather than snow over next weekend. The Pup Crawl sounds like a lot of fun as does Santa’s arrival with the fire truck. That is how our City’s Santa arrived for Fantasyland, which is an indoor Christmas display. Sometimes he lands by helicopter, but I could hear the fire engine sirens as it’s the next street over from me. I am going to visit Fantasyland next year and maybe get some photos for a post. I’ve not been in decades, probably since I volunteered to help set it up in my teens. I like your friend’s festive painting. My friend and her family hosted an exchange student from Brazil in our senior year in high school. It was quite an experience for her living with Sheila and her family for the school year. She graduated with us as well.

    Here is my post, hot off the press and yes, a wee bit long.

    Pinned!

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    • Thank you, Linda! We’ve been know to do a lot of festive activities over the holidays. We wanted to attend the town tree lighting but the temps were in the low 20s and we feared black ice on the rural highway just to get there. We were overjoyed to see the fire department’s Santa this time.

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      • It would be fun to live in a small town. My city is just five miles square, but does not have that small-town feeling for fun activities. Yes, black ice is not worth going out. I think I remember you went to a prior tree lighting in 2022 or 2021 and it looked fun. Now we have a tree lighting and they show the pictures the next day on the City’s FB site and only the mayor and council people are there for it.

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  38. Terri, I got a kick out of the Pup Crawl. Very different from the Pub Crawl that Malcolm and I did recently with some friends. We have definitely been in the festive spirit this month and I wrote about some of our outings here. https://aslifeevolves.com/2023/12/17/december-gifts-celebrating-abundance/ Wishing you a Merry Christmas. I’ll be back at the end of the month or the following week to join in the wrap-up.

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  42. Lovely festive post, Terri and I love the sound of a pup crawl 😄 we’ve been upside down with decorators all week, now it’s time to get the house into some sort of order 😅 Have a great week.

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  44. It’s traditional here to put a red poinsettia on your doorstep at Christmas, Terri. I’ve always wanted a deer, but then I’d have to sit outside keeping it company, wouldn’t I? I can tell you’re going to have a wonderful time. Merry Christmas, hon!

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  48. What a fun and festive look back Terri, followed by a look at today’s Christmas festivity! Loved the festive painting and of course you have to feature deer in your decorations 😊. I’m linking for my festive final image as well as my image of Kiawah’s ice storm – about as festive as we get LOL. Happiest of holidays to you and yours! https://travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com/2023/12/16/lens-artists-challenge-280-last-chance/

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  49. I am always a child at Christmas! We had Japanese students live with us for seven years in a homestay program. We would be their “Canadian” parents for one to three years. One girl decided to stay with us during Christmas and loved experiencing a Canadian Christmas. It was so much fun seeing the wonder of Christmas through her eyes. Great pictures.

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  51. It’s so sweet to see little Aero enjoying life. I enjoyed the picture of your nieces. They look like family! Your neighborhood deer look beautiful, though a little chilly! I’m glad there is less snow this year. It makes it easier to get around. Santa looks very fancy and festive. 🙂 We have a few decorations, but going back and forth, we don’t have tons up in either place. 🙂

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