• Tagged candid moments, couples kissing, holiday, kiss, kissing, love, midnight kiss, New Years Eve, people, public displays, romance

At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, it is a custom for couples to embrace and kiss in joyous celebration and to set the tone for the new year. On New Year’s Eve “an optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves,” stated Bill Vaughan. We wish you the magic of a midnight kiss, that crazy romantic kind of love where you are more lost in each other than where you are and who might be watching . . . Or who might be armed with a camera to catch the candid moments of expressing love and passion. If someone yells, “Get a room,” you probably got more caught up in the public display of affection than you realized. But who cares? You only live once. Here’s a candid collection of stolen kisses, romantic moments, and love quotes to live by. Happy New Year! Now get to kissing! [60 Photos]

• Tagged adventure, animals, Arctic, Arctic Circle, Aurora Borealis, Christmas, environment, explorers, holiday, nature, North Pole, Northern lights, reindeer, winter

When most folks hear ‘North Pole,’ they tend to think of Santa Claus and his home. But it would be difficult to build a residence or workshop at the North Pole since it is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. You could, however, walk on water at the North Pole since it is surrounded by waters that are almost permanently covered with constantly shifting sea ice about 2 to 3 m (6 ft 7 in to 9 ft 10 in) thick. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean along with portions of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. NOAA describes the Arctic as “a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by tree-less, frozen ground, that teems with life, including organisms living in the ice, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals and human societies. Persistent warming and record-setting changes are occurring throughout the Arctic environment with resultant impacts on Arctic ecosystems.” Here’s a look beyond Polar Express or St. Nick at the real North Pole, the Arctic Circle, the Arctic and its brave explorers who dared to adventure in a land beyond brrrr! We hope you have a very happy holiday season! [45 Photos]

• Tagged animals, environment, holiday, nature, polar bear, snow, winter

We love polar bears at any time, even sad times like when we did a tribute to superstar Knut, but most of these shots are of polar bears roaming and surviving in the wild. While these polar bears may have nothing to do with Coca-Cola polar bear marketing, the holidays gave us an ‘excuse’ to focus on the world’s largest carnivores and our favorite type of bears. [46 Photos]