It still seems too hot outside to be talking about Christmas, but I am going to do it anyway.

Our holiday issue of the Vicksburg Living magazine is coming together, and we are encouraging readers to submit a photo to be featured in its pages. As many folks know, at the end of each issue we include submitted photographs from readers.

In our September/October issue, we had an outpouring of locals submitting a Halloween favorite. It was obvious many of the photographs had been taken in the recent past, but then there were the ones that dated back 30-some-odd years ago.

My friend Belynda Waring sent in some of these great oldies. What nostalgia to see kids that are all grown up now, and with children of their own.

Oh, and by the way, the photos from Belynda were real-meal-deal photos. They had been taken with a film camera since neither digital nor cell phones were around in the 80s.

Belynda had conveyed to me she had a lot of fun going back through her old photographs, and I know exactly what she was talking about.

Last week, I was reorganizing the shelves where I keep my boxes of photos and found myself opening them up and looking at pictures. Truth be told, I got a little sidetracked from the original task at hand, but I sure did enjoy my walk down memory lane.

A couple of weeks ago, more old memories showed up at my door.

A while back, my cousin’s son had volunteered to convert all my old CDs to digital, and the digital files finally arrived.

A shout-out to my cousin, Betsy, who wound up paying for them to be converted professionally. Her son got bogged down with work and she paid to have them all done.

Her gift has been truly priceless. Tears were rolling down my face watching my children when they were young.

Also, seeing myself as a young mother was eye-opening. I had always thought I was less than cute, but when I saw myself without wrinkles and a tire around my waist, I had to re-think my perspective.

The submitted photographs in Vicksburg Living magazine are one of my favorite things about the product.

Not only because it’s fun looking at them, but for me, it also means our readers get to be part of The Vicksburg Post team — and I thank all who have contributed and who will contribute to the 2022 Holiday issue.

We have had the deadline posted on our website and Facebook page, but if you missed it, we are taking Christmas photos through Monday.

Last year, one of the submitted photos was chosen as the cover, just saying.

So don’t forget, Monday. And you can email them to me at terri.frazier@vicksburgpost.com or news@vicksburgpost.com.

Please don’t forget to include the names of all who are in the photo. I think I have prattled on so long, the temperature might have gone down a couple of degrees.