My Holiday Gift to Myself: Curation

My sister Trish – an artist and photographer based in Colorado – just sent us a 2026 calendar with one of her photos for each month. As I flipped through the calendar, I recognized places in Italy that we’ve both visited, as well the kinds of western landscapes that I saw a lot of when I was a kid on road trips with my parents. I thought about my old 35mm Canon, how I used to wait for the prints to be done after a trip somewhere. I didn’t shoot pictures of everything that caught my eye back then; I was choosy because film was expensive. Getting more than one print was also expensive; pictures were shared sparingly.

Earlier this month, I went on a trip to Santa Fe with my partner Mick and our friends Mark and Mary. We spent a long weekend meandering around the city, visiting museums and trails and restaurants and tap rooms. We ducked in and out of shops and enjoyed a las posadas procession around the old plaza in Santa Fe. I posted nothing on social media while we were there, choosing to wait until I got home to look through the many photos I shot with my iPhone. And, of those, I didn’t post a lot. I was choosy. That felt right. 

Here is our trip, distilled to nine photos:

Once we got home, in the middle of a Minnesota snowstorm no less, it hit me right between the eyes that Christmas was two weeks away. I hadn’t bought into the frenzy of it all just yet. Nor did I have time to ponder that as we moved right from unpacking to appointments, childcare for our granddaughter, a collective art show that included work by our son, menu-planning for the holiday dinners we’re hosting, and more. Evenings are when you’ll find both of us collapsed on a couch right now, Finn the Wheaten curled up next to us. 

Which leads me right back to that calendar I began this post with. Sometimes photos, when not overshared but carefully curated, remind me to curate my life and what I spend my time on whether that’s creating art or traveling or volunteering or speaking out. To crop out what isn’t necessary (frenzy, overbooked days, too much time spent scrolling, overpacked suitcases, more than one newscast per day, complaining). I’m not quite ready to think about 2026 just yet – 2025 has been stressful enough. But I can see where I might be headed – to a year in which I’m choosy about more than just photos. 

Have you ever noticed how a carefully curated photo or art exhibit leaves breathing space? And that space allows each piece to be considered, reacted to, understood. That. That’s what I’m after. 

Happy holidays to all. Leave yourself some space to consider, react, understand. 

Peace.

All photos by kcmickelson 2025