Cowboy Christmas Tree

More Christmas Decorations

As we were putting lights on the main Christmas tree in our den, we for some reason had a line of red lights. I really am not sure why we had that, because we usually only use multicolor lights on our trees. I am guessing that we found a good sale somewhere after Christmas one year.

The line of lights was not all that long. So Laura thought it would go well on a tree of sorts made of horseshoes. Someone had given that to her a few years ago, and it is pretty cool. But it looks even better with some red lights on it, doesn’t it? I think it does.

We put it on the corner of the old piano in the den. It is tucked away up there with an “ice block” that is actually a glass block with white lights inside, along with an angel and a few other trinkets. I put the tree and the ice block on a timer so that they will come on with the rest of the Christmas lights, too, because during the Christmas holidays I like to have as many lights come on as we can get. This was a good addition to our collection.

Simple Decorations

As you can see, we do not have to have elaborate decorations for Christmas in our house. Something simple like a horseshoe tree with some red lights works just fine for us. Some other color might have worked just as well, but red was what we had, and it goes well in our house.

While stores are all about selling you the biggest, best, and newest things, sometimes some of the best things are things that you come up with yourself. That makes them more special to you. After all, the best memories are the ones that you create yourself, not the ones that you try to take from someone else.

Now if we can just remember to put this up again next year, that will be even better!

Bible Verse

Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors! - Luke 2:13-14

About the Photo

For this photo, I used a 50mm f/1.8 prime lens. I had the aperture open wide to focus tightly on the tree itself, knowing that some of the other things around the tree would be out of focus because of that. I did not mind that at all.

To make sure that the right elements were in focus, I actually used manual focus for this photo. I usually just use autofocus. After all, autofocus is usually faster. And if you have autofocus set just to one point, you can usually put that point on the object you want to focus on and then reframe the shot while holding the shutter button halfway down.

But instead of being in a hurry, I took a little time to try to do this one right. And I did that by using manual focus and checking to make sure that the tree was in fact in focus. It really did not take much more time, and it reminded me of the old days of manual focus on my fully manual Pentax K1000 film camera. Those were fun times!

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: Sony FE 50mm f/1.8 Lens
Date: December 6, 2018
Location: Home, Williston, Tennessee