Wild Christmas

A doe stands beside a decorated tree in the winter woods, string lights glowing warm against the snow. Cardinals and blue jays have claimed the branches like living ornaments, flashes of red and blue among the pine cones and straw decorations. A golden star tops the tree while the forest stretches out behind, bare hardwoods and evergreens fading into the grey winter sky. It's a scene that shouldn't exist—Christmas in the wild, nature and holiday magic sharing the same frame. The kind of painting that earns a spot over the mantel every December.