this year's christmas tree

Well, this is this year’s Christmas tree. I don’t know what I think of it yet.

In terms of detail, it’s a little less interesting than years past. I got sick with a cold and had a bunch of classes at Big Green (I know I said I finished my tax classes a while ago, but these were customer service training classes that met during the week after work) right in the middle of decorating. Mom finished the tree and didn’t put the really big, opulent stuff (that my trees are known for) on, though she did put the gold cherubs on that I bought earlier in the season (to tie the tree together with a unifying design element)

Not that you can see them with the lights on…

I tried some bigger lights (they’re like little globes, similar to C7s, but brighter) mixed with my standard mini-lights this year. The tree literally glows when the lights are on, as you can see. With the lights on, you don’t miss the big ornaments. In fact, when I saw how powerful the lights were, I resisted the urge to add more ornaments, though I had a really strong desire to get some silk poinsettias and stick them into the bare-looking spots on the tree. That didn’t happen, because I never got a chance to go to the craft store, and I vowed to stay out of Wal-Mart after getting trapped in there on Christmas Eve (I told Jamie the story recently)

The new camera (Sony DSC-H5) has a number of preset modes that take a lot of the guesswork out of taking pictures in certain situations. I tried out several different camera effects before I came up with these shots. The room shot is spectacular, I think. In all the years I’ve photographed my tree; it’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to a professional-looking picture. The detail shot below is the one I’m most proud of. It’s still not perfect, but it seems almost surreal to think I did that on my own tree. It looks like postcard, and it also shows off my giant lights that created the glowing effect you see.