Wishing You A Very Scary Christmas - Snap! Snap!

Dear Henry,

It isn't a secret that I look at the world a little darkly and that I love "scary" fairy tale shows such as the Addams family and Pan's Labyrinth. In fact, I think I've had The Nightmare Before Christmas on repeat since October 1.

I'm usually able to keep my inner Lily Munster suppressed but not this year.

The Oklahoma (and really any of the plains) landscape can be austere, particularly in the winter and much of the beauty of the place comes from the colors of the sky, the pastoral nature of the landscape, and the isolation of individual subjects. The landscape outside of Tulsa, near Osage Hills, has a very stark and gothic beauty and I felt like some of the isolated ranches that one finds peppered throughout the hills, semi-hidden behind wrought iron fences, would be the perfect winter home for Morticia Addams.

My goal when I took this photo was to capture the perfect "Oklahoma Winter" picture and I did, really.  This is a photo of Osage Hills during a cold rain, with the red of the scrub oak peeking through the clouds and it does capture the desolate beauty of the area.

I even used my favorite font, called Milk Script, in a rich green to counteract the grey sky and red hills and when I sent our Christmas cards off to the printer, I was sure I had created the "Perfect Christmas Greeting From Our New Home in Oklahoma". 

Instead of creating the perfect card, I discovered I've been channeling Lydia Dietz and should probably get some more sun.

The move to Tulsa has been hard for me and our current apartment (which I've complained about, more than once) is next to a busy freeway/offramp/intersection and I have been plagued by the constant sound of road noise and smells that include regular sirens and tire squeals.  I have far too much baggage to live this close to a busy road and while I knew I was having issues with the sounds freeway, I hadn't realized how much I have been struggling with the whole adventure until our Christmas cards returned from the printer.

Snap! Snap!

This year, instead of sending out our beautiful custom Christmas cards, we have purchased cards that feature the Abominable Snowman.

They'll be in the mail shortly.

xoxo a.d. elliott

a.d. elliott is a wanderer, writer, and photographer currently living in Roanoke, Virginia. 

In addition to the travel writings at www.takethebackroads.com, you can also read her book reviews at www.riteoffancy.com and US military biographies at www.everydaypatriot.com

Her online gallery can be found at shop.takethebackroads.com

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