What comes to mind when you think of things you’ll photograph this holiday season? A family portrait? Perhaps the lights you see at your neighborhood or community display? Maybe carolers, your family sitting down for a holiday dinner together, or the kids opening their presents on Christmas morning.

These are all really important things to memorialize, but let’s not forget to capture the mood we create for ourselves with decorations! After all, many of us spend a lot of time and effort making our surroundings look festive; it’s worth freezing them in time to look back on later.

I really enjoy photographing the decorations we place about our house every year to build memories and capture the feel of each year’s holiday season.

As you start to get into the holiday spirit this year, think about this and walk through (and around the outside of) your home, noting the decorations you’ve added.

Photograph all of these things. If you’re like me, you’ll enjoy looking back at them later. You may even want to make a collage of them each year to put in your virtual albums as part of the memories of that season.

all photos in this article © all rights reserved, Lotus Carroll