advent candles
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: Celebrating a Winter Wonderland and the Fourth Day of Advent

Do you wish you lived in a Winter Wonderland? I thought I was living in one, but snow is trying to elude us this week.

Reindeer lights

The winter solstice begins today, December 21. The sparse daylight of our loooonnng winter days will increase by 2 minutes a day! Woohoo! Today, the sun set here at 4:00pm 😨

While waiting for snow, I captured a couple of beautiful sunsets.

A pretty image. But wouldn’t it look better with more snow?

christmas time winter

The lighted deer decor still enjoyed the sunset’s glow.

lighted deer

A few moments later…BAM!

winter sunset
Glow of a Winter Sunset

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale

For Sunday Stills, please share your images that depict sunlight or darkness, the winter or summer solstice, sunsets, sunrises, love, Advent, and/or holiday magic.

The Gift of Love During the Final Week of Advent

Over the last four weeks, you have celebrated Advent with me, or at least read more about the tradition. I hope that you have learned as much as I did. We celebrated the season’s themes of hope, peace, and joy, culminating this week with LOVE.

advent candles

The whole meaning of Christmas can be explained in one little four-letter word…LOVE. It doesn’t matter what religion you subscribe to, or whether you believe in anything spiritual at all; as human beings, we all have the capacity for love.

Colors of the Advent Candles and Their Meaning

Three purple candles symbolize penitence and preparation. One pink candle represents joy, while one white candle symbolizes the purity of Christ.

On the fourth Sunday of Advent, we light the fourth candle that represents love. Then on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, we light the fifth candle, a white candle that represents Christ.

“The white candle is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to symbolize the arrival of the Light of the World that the darkness cannot overcome.” ~ Color with Leo

o holy night

“A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.” ~ O Holy Night, John Sullivan Dwight, 1855. Original Lyrics in the Public Domain.

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The birth of Jesus was not just a historical event – it was the breaking of divine light into the darkness of humanity. When Jesus entered the world, the long night of separation from God came to an end. (Song of Heaven Reading Plan), The Hope Centre, Australia

As with my second Advent post, I’m sharing some of the comments people left on a similar post I wrote 10 years ago.

“Call it Diwali, Advent, Hanukkah, this is a time of year where we all light our candles to spread the lights and pray for peace. I agree with you, there is not much we can practically do, but hoping, spreading love and practicing compassion for ourselves first and for the rest of the world is already a step in the right direction to me.” ~ Estelea

advent candles

“But indeed, the holidays are a time of eager anticipation! May peace, hope, joy, and love reign this holiday season and always!” ~ Lia

Hope, peace, joy, and love all summed up in this photograph of Opa Hans and his granddaughters from earlier this year!

children

My stepson and my granddaughters will be spending the Christmas holidays with us — we’re so excited!

I’m sharing for Hammad’s Weekend Sky, Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday, and Sadje & Kym’s Writer’s Quotes (WQ): Winter Wonderland.

holly border

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. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently from mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link to a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

If you are participating in the photo challenge, I look forward to seeing how you interpret this week’s color challenge theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme.

This is my last Sunday Stills post until January 4th, when we’ll celebrate 2025 and look back at the events and images that defined the year.

The Flower Hour returns January 6. Color Challenge themes for 2026 are now listed on my Sunday Stills page.

The featured image was A-I generated.

I cannot thank you all enough for reading my posts, engaging with me in the comments, and linking to these photo challenges. I sincerely wish you all a wonderful Christmas and holiday season! May 2026 bring you hope, peace, joy, and love. 🎄❤️

Christmas signature

© 2025 Copyright — Terri Webster Schrandt and secondwindleisure.com — All Rights Reserved

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51 comments

  1. Terri, I agree with you as to snow making it more picture perfect, but your reindeer are still festive, lit up and frolicking in your front yard. Thank you for the explanation of the meaning of the Advent candles and colors, something I didn’t know. I have linked your post to mine, for readers who may follow your posts through my link every Sunday, although I have my annual Christmas memory post, but not the Winter Solstice or snow. That’s a nice photo of Hans with his grandchildren. Enjoy the blessings of the holiday, surrounded by family and friends.

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    • I suppose I like snow on the ground this time of year…I prefer the bright white over the endless brown. I’m glad I could illuminate more about Advent, I also learned some new things myself. Thank you for sharing my post. Merry Christmas to you, my friend!

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      • One of our weather forecasters gives a “walking the dog” forecast for evening. That’s the name of this portion of her forecast and the other day she said muddy paws after all this rain. Haven’t heard that in a while but everything is frozen mud now. Same to you Terri!

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  3. Terri, I love the sunset photos with the lighted deer, but what my heart glows more for is the last photo of the laughing, smiling, children which symbolises love and joy! Merry Christmas again.

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  10. The thought of a light that darkness cannot overcome is a wonderful one, Terri. I know you’re longing for snow, but the granddaughters will love their time spent with you whether it happens or not. Those deer are magical in the half light. Merry Christmas, darlin! xx

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  14. What a stunning sunset, Terri and your house looks wonderful. I was wishing for snow too but it wasn’t to be. Lovely post, wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday season.

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  15. Happy Solstice. Now the light returns! How weird the sun sets in your world 55 mins before mine and I am quite a bit farther north than you — far enough that a white Christmas is on the ground. Like very deeply covering the ground! Take care. See you in January. Enjoy the special family time.

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  20. Thank you for the heartfelt Christmas blessings and your wonderful photos, Terri. I love the pink glow of that sunset; it is magical!

    Warm Christmas blessings and peace to you and your family over the holidays, Terri. All the very best to you in 2026!

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