Holiday Spirit in My Neighborhood

Lately it's been very cold and the nights are chilly. Winter is in full blast and Christmas is a few more days away. In fact upon posting this blog entry, it would be a day or two away depending on which part of the world you are residing. Anyway, one particular cold night that I was off from work, I really didn't know how to spend the remaining hours of the day. Braving the cold breeze and armed with my camera, I decided to just go around my neighborhood to see the various light displays outside their homes. I had put up some lights on two fir trees in front of our house and that's it although I also set up our Christmas tree and my own version of the nativity scene in our small living room. Suffice to say that we already have that Christmas spirit inside and outside of our house. Setting up lights and holiday decorations has been the tradition all over the world during this holiday season. Its main purpose is to share the holiday spirit to everyone. With the cold night and chilly breeze (fortunately no snow at all), I had to bundle up to warm myself as I am no hero braving the cold like this.

Walking around my neighborhood, I have noticed that some households did not put up some decorations at all but most have at least some colorful lights trimmed along their roof, window sills or trimming around their trees on their lawns. Some few houses really set up some elaborate displays and this is the main target of my camera. At first I was hesitant to take pictures on their decorations because they might mistakenly take me like invading their privacy and property without their permission. I have to be careful because people nowadays worry too much on their privacy. Fortunately it was close to midnight already and everyone was inside. I did not use my flash for two reasons, I didn't want to attract the attention of the home owners and I just wanted to capture the light effects in my camera so I just played around with its aperture and shutter speed functionalities. I also did not stay too long in one spot with the same purpose I previously mentioned, as if I was just walking around enjoying the cold night and the lights.

After doing this, I have decided to go out further and roam the city to capture more holiday spirits on display. My next target is the malls.

Please follow this link to view the photos: http://lemueljon.multiply.com/photos/album/74/Neighborhood_Holiday_Lights