Great post today over at David duChemin's PixelatedImage:blog. Within the context of switching back to film, he talks about the need for play to keep your creativity fresh and alive. All this talk about Seeing and Vision and the Mind's Eye is all just the first part, the end being the image itself. In between though, the path that gets us there, the thing unique to each of us is our own creative process. If we let that get stale, the whole process can stagnate and wither over time.
Whatever it is you need to do to stay fresh creatively, do it. For duChemin it was slowing the process down and going back to film (which I think is an excellent idea for any number of reasons I won't bother you with here). Figure out what'll tweak your process and give it a try. You can read David's excellent post here.
On another note, if you're not familiar with David's work, I can't recommend him enough. He talks about Vision in a way that goes above and beyond anyone else I've found and far better than I can. Both of his books- Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision and VisionMongers: Making a Life and a Living in Photography are great reads and should be on your Holiday wish list. An even greater value are his superb ebooks at the insanely low cost of $5ea. You can find those here. If you're on the path to understand your Vision and Creative Mind and want to share it with the world, they're worth every penny.