The Original Elf

One of the latest crazes to take off over the last few years has been that of the elf who runs wild in your house while you're asleep.  'Legend' has it that these little elves run around people's homes doing all kinds of odd things while the humans are asleep.  In the morning, or when the lights are turned on, the elves return to their frozen state, often still holding the evidence that links them to whatever naughty little deed they had done the night before.  You've probably seen many photos over on Facebook of what these little elves have been doing at the homes of some of your friends.  It's a fun little idea that I'm sure fills little kids with wonder, but it's hardly new.  In my younger days, there was an elf in my family as well.  Infact, he's still around.  He's not quite the troublemaker that this new generation of elves is.  His name is Jack Frost and he likes to hang out in the Christmas tree.  When he first joined the family, he could always be found in the tree that my Grandparents would put up.  After my Grandparents had sadly passed away, old Jack ended up with my parents.  He's a Country Elf, after all.  Every year it was always an adventure to try and find where Jack was hiding in the tree.  He didn't run around the house spilling flour or putting toilet paper on everything, which is probably a good thing or my Grandfather would have had him sleeping with the cows in very short order.  He just liked to hang out in the tree and hide out amongst all of the decorations.  Jack is still the first thing I look for when I get to my parents house and the tree is up.  These are a couple of photographs that I took of Jack last year after finding him in the tree.  I used a large aperture so that all of the decorations would have a nice blur on on them as I've always felt that those little Christmas lights look better that way.  Same goes with all of the tinsel and other decorations.  The first photograph was taken at f/4, 1/10, ISO 1600 at 25mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/30sec, ISO 1600 at 32mm.  I can't wait to see where Jack will be hiding this year, but in waiting, I'd like to wish all of you out there a Merry Christmas of your own.