The Christmas Card Photos that Made the Cut

These are the photos that made the cut for the Christmas cards – I’m posting them here because each person only got a few, and I thought it would be fun to have them all together. See? Isn’t this fun? Anyway, here they are. The above one the printer printed on B&W paper, so it lost the slight color you can see here, which I thought made it even more magical, but oh well.

The one on the left was a fluke – it isn’t edited at all!

By the Christmas tree – you can see on the tree where he decorated – all the ornaments are clumped together at Leify height! He redecorated the tree around 50 times a day. :)

I did some of the pictures in color – some in sepia. That last one is my favorite!

:)

The Christmas Card Rejects, Year 3

His bubble burst – literally and figuratively!

I blew bubbles at him, but they all flew behind him shot after shot, so he kept turning around to look at them (chase them with quite a bit of zeal, actually) so I had a load of photos of his back!

L:  Fish Lips  R; I had just said, put your chin up a bit…and he did!

L:  He Kept closing his eyes and I got snappy with him, so he was all sad :(

R:  The boy has a mean face!

L:  Showing off his big muscles.

R:  I said, “Smile with your teeth!” and this is what he gave me.

This one makes me laugh every time I see it!

Poking at the bubbles.  One had just burst under his one finger, and there he is, going after another!

For previous year’s Christmas Card Rejects, click here.

Painting

This morning, Jason washed and started to prime the Dining Room walls before he went to work. Naturally, little helper Leif was right there by his side, so Jason taught him the fine art of "cuttin' in" and Leif loved it. He was SO happy to be helping Daddy - it just made his day.

Here, Jason is watching Leif's brushstrokes. Clearly, not really cutting in, but he loved it!

Jason didn't get to finish painting (which made me sad, but another day, right?) since he had to go to work, but I was glad he finished what he did. Just the little things make such a huge difference! :)

A note to those of you who are getting our Christmas cards in the mail:
Pull the picture out - there may be more behind it!

A few people I've talked to had no idea they were there, despite my best efforts to fan them out to make it obvious (it didn't make it obvious, but I tried!) so I wanted to let everyone know so they didn't miss them.

I was knee deep in projects today - some present making (I'll share those after Christmas) and some garland making. I made a garland of letters that spelled out "JOY" and one that spelled "NOEL" and hing them on Christmas-y ribbon above the fireplace mantle, and on the wood wall in the Dining Room. Considering they're made from recycled material (old promotional posters from the seafood festivals we did recently and cut up paper bags) I think they came out pretty nice.

I'll try to take pictures of them and my other decorations (since I know you're so desperate to see!) ;)

Stay tuned for the Christmas Card rejects, too - maybe later this week! :)

Happy Days!

Calm

The fog and placid water make a serene picture, don't they?

It was only calm and foggy like this for a few minutes. I saw it from inside, ran outside with my camera and started shooting. A minute or two later, the fog began to retreat and the water began to ripple as the tide started to move quickly out.

But for those few quick moments, there was complete calm in the world. We couldn't see the houses across the water, or the traffic crossing the bridges - just the same bluish-grey all around.

All of those pictures are completely unedited, too (except for the top and bottom one, come to think of it - I straightened them - I've always been a bit wonky with creating a straight photo, even using the camera's built-in guides!)

So, here't the to-do:

I was making Christmas gifts for all the wee children in the family, and got around halfway through that project before things went horribly wrong. Now, it appears that I do not have time to salvage said project, so I gave up and ordered the items I was making instead. They're still handmade, just not by me! :)

Since that project was taking up all of my time/brainspace/energy, I am now free to enjoy the holidays and perhaps even blog more than I intended (intention was nothing til Christmas or after). Now, I can have time to make cookies, dinners, and all sorts of good things. Phew! What a breath of fresh air it is! Shopping is done, Cards are out, and we're just coasting from here on out! Yes!

The bad news that goes along with that (there's always a cloud to every silver lining, isn't there?) is that the Northern contingent of family wee ones may not recieve their gifts until after Christmas, since I have to mail the gifts out once I receive them. Be ye forewarned, northern contingent!

Today, Leify and I are just going to take it easy, clean the house that became somewhat destroyed in the present and card-making process, make Pumpkin Bread and Nana's Lamb Stew, read Christmas books together, and maybe wrap a few presents, oh so casually. I think these pictures are a good image of our 'tude today - calm & tranquil.

Hope your day is calm & tranquil, too.

Fog and other Brain Complications

Our backyard.

It has been rather foggy here lately, and I'm not just talking about the state of my brain. The fog has been hanging thick over our little world, occasionally blowing on the breeze in white gusts, but always chill and view-blocking. I, for one, love the fog. It reminds me of our honeymoon in Canada, when we spent several days in Vancouver, but never actually saw the city due to the fog. It was lovely and magical.

Sorry it has been so long since my last post (and that a pictureless one!) but things have been hectic. I know this is a hectic time of year for everyone, but here's a rundown of what we've been up to:

We went to Maryland for Thanksgiving. We drove up (a splendid trip - Leif didn't fuss once!), spent the week visiting friends and family and old haunts, and then drove back down (another splendid trip - he only fussed once for about 5 seconds). So, during that period, I couldn't blog (aside from that pictureless post).

Grandmom had done a great job of getting the house gussied up for Christmas (before Thanksgiving) so that Leif could see it. Seeing the decorations only solidified my resolve to get our decorations out and up as soon as we got home! Unfortunately, my decorating was waylaid by a series of unfortunate events (no Lemony Snicket involved!)

We hauled out the tree and put it up only to find out that several strands of our pre-lit tree were not lighting. So, I had to wait several days for Jason to go and buy some more lights (the store is so far away that we really only go for good reasons - Christmas lights not among them. So when he went for other planned things, I asked him to pick the lights up - hence the days involved!)

In the meantime, I tried to get some good old-fashioned construction-paper garland goin' on. But woe is me, my stapler was suffering from fatal wounds and only made it twenty or thirty links in to the project and gave up for good. Of course, there is a method to decorating a tree - the lights go on first, followed by the garland, and last, the ornaments, right? So I couldn't very well proceed to the ornaments with neither lights nor garland.

And to top it all off, I didn't have a star or angel for the top of my tree (pun intended). I noticed it after last Christmas, but I'm VERY particular about the angel I want up there, and nothing has come close to what I want, yet, so I'm still looking.

So, my decorating glee was waylaid by no lights, no garland, and no tree-topper.

Oh, and did I mention that we had a big storm and flood warning come in at the same time? I hesitated to unpack because for a bit because I didn't want to have to unpack just to repack again to evacuate. Joy.

I was developing a serious case of Bah Humbug.


Foggy.

But then Jason came home with the lights and I put them up. I borrowed a stapler from the hardware store down the road (also known as De Grande's house) and finished my paper chain. I tied a Starfish to the top of the tree with some jute twine, and voila, the tree was decorated. It only took me over a week to decorate the tree!

So, that was that.

So, why haven't I posted any pictures of late?

Well, a few months ago, I misplaced the memory card for my camera. So, I borrowed Caryn's. Then I found my card, but forgot to put it in the camera (see how the fog is more emcompassing than just the weather?) Since it wasn't in the camera, I lost it again. So, I've been cardless and unable to take pictures for a while. (Good news: I found it again, and it is in the camera!)

I took only a small handful and all at once during Thanskgiving...

Jason and Leif going for a walk. Hmn. More fog.

But now, I'm back in the Christmas Spirit. I watched the Nativity Story last night and loved it.

So now, I'm listening to Christmas music (loving the Kristin Chenoweth Christmas album), making Christmas cards, and drinking eggnog (never too early in the day to start!) :)

Bloggage should be pretty skimpy between now and Christmas, so all apologies to those looking for more pictures of the little guy. It should pick up after that, though! AND, there is always the annual Christmas Card Photo Rejects to look forward to before Christmas! :)

The photo below is not one of them, but it does show off his new weiner dog scarf we got in Maryland (the weiner dog head is on one end of the scarf, his body stretches the entire length of it, and then his little rump is on the other end of the scarf!) We thought the scarf would be a nice memento of our trip - cold and Sammy the hot dog!

Anyway, happy days to ye!