Christmas lights - Creswell, North Carolina 

Christmas Day Journey

When I was growing up, Christmas was a special time of year. Our house was alive with cooking and baking, decorating and the smell of fresh cut cedar.  My mother loved celebrating the season but her thoughts always turned to her aging parents and she longed to return to the house in the mountains where she grew up.

So every Christmas day until my grandparents died in 1963, we opened our presents, had a special Christmas breakfast and packed the car for the trip "home" to see my grandparents. In the 1950s, the trip took over eight hours and we would arrive after dark. Aunts and uncles sat in the overheated "parlor" to talk, while the cousins gathered in the kitchen, still warm from the fire in the cast-iron cook-stove, to compare Christmas bounty.

Later, we were all sent to sleep on cots or pallets on the floor in the attic room, warmed by the stone chimney that rose through the center of the house. I would lay awake in the dark and listen to the faint sounds of the grown-ups downstairs, and the winter wind in the mountains outside the single attic window.

But what I remember best about those Christmases was our small family, traveling together in the car along the two lane roads into the Virginia mountains. I remember the names of  the towns along the way:  Culpeper, Madison, Brightwood, Charlottesville, Waynesboro, Stuarts Draft, Greenville, Lexington, Natural Bridge.

Christmas decorations lit the way through each town, but the store windows were dark and the streets deserted. In the failing winter light, the road was lonely and a bit sad, but we were taking Mom home for Christmas.

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Thanks for reading Photography In Place. We will be taking a short break next week, but will resume our regular publishing schedule on January 3, 2011. Hope you will stop by for a visit in the new year.

Cardinal and holly -Greene County, Virginia 

Best wishes for a 

Joyful Christmas Season

and a Prosperous New Year

Seasons Greetings from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Tomorrow we will publish our last post of 2010 titled "Christmas Day Journey."

We are going to take a few days off  next week, but will resume posting on January 3, 2011. Thanks for reading Photography in Place, and please stop by for a visit in the new year.

Near Michie Tavern - Charlottesville, Virginia 

Service Station - Creswell, North Carolina 

The sun is low in the southern sky this time of year, and the light is good for photography throughout the day. Except for the cold, it is a great time to be out with a camera. Brooks Jensen, the editor of Lenswork magazine has some interesting thoughts on the subject in this podcast, Winter Light.

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If you enjoy looking at old photos, take a look at this gallery of vintage Christmas photos on Shorpy. Click on the pictures in the gallery to see a larger version of the photo along with a short description. These old pictures are bound to bring back some memories of Christmases past.

W.H. Snowden General Merchandise - Currituck, North Carolina

December 21, 2010

There are just four days of Christmas shopping left. There was a time when most, if not all Christmas shopping would take place in a  general store much like the one pictured above. It was certainly a simpler time, with no trips to the crowded mall, no need to visit dozens of stores to find the right gift. You just hoped that Mr. Snowden could keep a Christmas secret.

The Winter Solstice, the beginning of winter and the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, occurs this evening at 6:38 pm EST. Worldwide, there are dozens of festivals and ceremonies centered around the beginning of winter.

In 2010, a rare Lunar eclipse accompanies the Winter Solstice. It was visible in North America and the western half of South America starting at 1:33 a.m. eastern time this morning.

Update: If you missed the eclipse last night, take a look at Ctein's Post Eclipse Report over on The Online Photographer for a description of the event and some great photographs.

View from plantation house - Somerset Place, North Carolina

This picture was taken from the third floor window overlooking the gardens at Somerset Place. In the middle of the 19th century, this view was no doubt very different, but the interesting thing to me is that it could have looked this way 150 years ago. Stand at this window today and there is nothing that would have seemed unusual or out of place in 1860. There are no power lines, automobiles, paved roads, parking lots or fast food restaurants in sight. Of course, the camera can be selective, but one of the pleasures of a visit to Somerset Place is that once you leave your car and walk into the compound, there is almost nothing that seems inconsistent with the period. It seems a place set apart.

See more about Somerset Place here and here.

Winter farmland - near Creswell, North Carolina