Ideally the Christmas season is a time when thoughts turn toward childhood memories, to families and to tradition. And it is also a time when the pressure mounts to purchase a perfect gift for everyone on your list.

If the crush of holiday shoppers and worry over delivery times for online orders dampens the holiday spirit, perhaps this year you might consider another option. Perhaps you might consider something a bit more personal.

All you need is some artistic talent, a pallete and canvas, or an eye for scenic wonders, a camera or some skill with a smart phone. Kingman, Arizona is at the heart of a scenic wonderland without equal, and so it is perfectly suited to the creation of orignal art work or awe inspiring photographs.

For inspiration all that is needed is a walkabout on the Cerbat Foothills Recreation Area or White Cliffs Wagon Road trail system. Add a Technicolor sunset or sunrise, and unleash the imagination. Take a walkabout on the shade dappled trails in the picturesque Hualapai Mountains, a pine forested desert oasis, and find a spot to set up you easel.

Drive Route 66 from the 1920s Partridge Creek Bridge near Ash Fork, Arizona to the Havasu National Wild Life Refuge on the Colorado River. Make a stop at Cool Springs, at Oatman, and at the summit of Sitgreaves Pass.

Walk the streets of historic Chloride. Make the drive to Windy Point Campground with its stunning views of the old mining camp, and the Sacramento Valley with the Hualapai Mountains and Black Mountains on the horizon.

Walk downtown Kingman. Follow the new self guided narrated historic district walking tour developed by Kingman Main Street. Bask in the neon glow on Beale Street and Andy Devine Avenue.

After you fill a memory card or two with stunning photos, or have a nice stack of color canvases, grab your favorite beverage, hot or cold, and review your work. See what friends or family come to mind as you look through your work. Now imagine these masterpieces framed and hanging over a mantle, on a den or office wall, or he library where a grandfather instilled a love for books.

Why give a gift when you can share or inspire an adventure? Why frustrate yourself battling tired shoppers when, instead, you can find solace? Why purchase another sweater with penguins in Christmas hats adorning the front or a kitchen gadget when you can give something from the heart?

Your artistry plus a custom frame from Avant Print & Frame equals a perfect gift. Your shared adventure is a gift that will treasured.

Perhaps this year you might consider starting a new tradition. Perhaps, with assistance from the professionals at Avant Print & Frame, this year you can give personalized gifts that become treasured heirlooms.

Written by Jim Hinckley of Jim Hinckley’s America