Christmas 2025

26th December 2025

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone reading this had a good day, whatever you got up to. It's a secular festival for me and my family, with presents and food and relaxation, and we managed to tick all those boxes and then some.

This year there wasn't a doll for me under the tree, but there was a new camera lens - a nifty fifty (a Canon RF f1.8 50mm, to be specific). I'd been thinking about it for ages, because while my 35mm lens is fine, I thought I would like the 50mm better for doll photography.

Hazel was my first model, and of course, I had to put her in front of the Christmas tree and stop the lens all the way down to get some nice bokeh.

Portrait of a female ball-jointed doll with long auburn hair, wearing a high-necked yellow and white dress. She is in front of an out-of-focus Christmas tree.

I should also (belatedly) introduce Claudia. She's a FCS F-07 (or Nono) from earlier this year when there was a special time-limited event at Volks's Tenshi no Sato, and you could order this otherwise-unavailable head. I bought her with boyish make and put her on a DearSD body for maximum cuteness.

Portrait of a female ball-jointed doll with long blonde hair in ringlets and big sparkling purple eyes, wearing a red dress. She is in front of an out-of-focus Christmas tree.

I put them both in red for Christmas, but I've been doing some Christmas sewing (which is obviously not finished in time for Christmas) which I hope I can finish before the end of the year.

Half-length portrait of a female ball-jointed doll with long auburn hair, wearing a high-necked yellow and white dress with puffy sleeves. She leans against a human-sized chair, holds a hat in one hand, and is in front of a Christmas tree.

Half-length portrait of a female ball-jointed doll with long auburn hair, wearing a red and white dress with a large white sailor-like collar. She is sitting with her hands in her lap in front of an out-of-focus Christmas tree.

Portrait of a female ball-jointed doll with long blonde hair in ringlets and big purple eyes, wearing a red dress. She is looking away from the camera, to the side.

Half-length portrait of a female ball-jointed doll with long blonde hair in ringlets and big purple eyes, wearing a red dress. She has one hand in front of her mouth and behind her is a Christmas tree.

Two female ball-jointed dolls sit in front of a Christmas tree. They are both wearing red dresses. The doll on the left is smaller, with long auburn hair and a wistful expression. The doll on the right is larger, with big purple eyes and long curly blonde hair.

After this one photo session, I can say I'm very happy with the new lens, and with the fact that I have Christmas photos up only slightly late.

Looking back through my posts this year, I see I've taken photos of Hazel more than any other doll. SDMs are very portable... and she's just got such a soulful expression. I keep thinking about getting another SDM, but in 2026 I would like to work on managing my collection size. I don't feel comfortable indefinitely adding new dolls, and I'm running out of space anyway.

I may do a separate post about 2026 plans, but the short version is that I want to finish all unfinished dolls (two of which involve paid exchange at Volks due to extreme yellowing) and do more sewing, knitting, and photography.

I hope everyone has lovely winter holiday period, and good wishes for the new year! May all your dreams, doll or otherwise, come true in 2026.