The last photo of 2009

The girls and I played outside today building a house and rolling giant snowballs. The house is not yet completed. They are are often overly ambitious to start and have a difficult time finishing. Much like me a lot of the time. But I finished Project 365 for 2009!! I actually finished something!!!

Project 365 was a wonderful gift. It was a challenge that stretched me while also giving me a great excuse to take more pictures! I always take a lot of pictures, but P365 helped me to be intentional about capturing my day. And I am very thankful I did it!
I took 3872 photos this year. I shared 681 for Project 365. That's a lot of pictures.
Thanks, Sara for inviting me along.
I'm not going to officially participate this year, but no doubt I will continue to document our journey with photos--I just can't help it!
If you would like to participate in Project 365, Sara will be hosting it again for 2010. She's a gracious hostess and you will not be sorry at the end of the journey!

Just for fun, here's a collage for 2009--only 5 photos for each month along the way. (Click on it for a closer look.)
Happy New Year, everyone!

My new lens

John gave me a big surprise for Christmas--an amazing new lens! It's a 50mm f/1.4 and it is so much fun to shoot with. All of the photos on this blog since Christmas Eve were taken with it.

Today I had some fun capturing a couple of the new ornaments we received this year. Look at that beautiful bokeh! (Bokeh is the out-of-focus area in the image.) If you like such things, you should go over to the Pioneer Woman's Photography site this week--she has been running a little holiday bokeh contest. The photos are amazingly beautiful!

Recovery

I hate to say it, but it is true...we needed this quiet day to do nothing except recover. Recovery in this case was not sitting around and drinking hot chocolate. It was catching up on laundry and finding places to put new treasures. And at some point between all that recovering, we enjoyed a chocolaty snack together. What a wonderful, spoiled life I lead.

65

My dad turned 65 today. That's just crazy. I thank God that I have a Dad that has loved and cared for me from day one. What an amazing gift he is to me and to our family. I love him very much.

On the 3rd day of Christmas...

We're still going! Today Christmas with extended family.
The forever entertaining white elephant gift exchange...always funny when you're related to pranksters! But they were actually pretty nice this year. No orange lingerie or box of rocks from anyone. John brought home a lava lamp (which the girls are thrilled about!) and I received an unopened tube of lotion.
One really clever gift was "a cartridge in a bare tree" which was a small tree branch with a gun cartridge hanging from it! How do people think of these things?!

On the 2nd Day of Christmas...

We continued celebrating the gift of Christ.
And one another...

A Very Merry Christmas

Christmas morning at home...
Christmas day at my parents' home...
A sweet day from beginning to end.

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

Silent Night

Our Christmas Card

Our traditional Christmas card is late this year. Most of our friends and family received (or will receive) a simple photo card with one picture. These gift tag cards have 10 photos! I'll have to share how I make them someday...maybe next November. Somebody will certainly have to remind me though!
This is my copy hanging on our frig:

A Flurry of Photos

I missed posting all of last week. We've been busy preparing for Christmas. I can't believe it's almost here! Instead of trying to catch up on last week, here are some pictures of a few things we've been doing! Merry Christmas everyone!!

Home again

Two of my favorite people in the world are in town from Boston. I love everything that Christmas brings to us.

Sing a joyful noise!

They've been practicing for months. Every Thursday for an hour. 8 pieces of music. Only 2 being familiar Christmas carols--one of which was sung in German.

It's amazing what kids are capable of, given the time and training.

Brrr....did I mention it's cold outside?

I had a photo shoot today in the below freezing temperatures with 2 very cute kids. They were troopers, but by the end we were all freezing and they were both crying. They probably hate that lady with the camera, but I hope in the long run they'll enjoy their pictures for many years to come. They couldn't be cuter--wouldn't you agree?!

In the afternoon, we received our delivery of firewood for the winter! Yay! We all worked together to get it stacked in the garage. There is barely room left for our vehicles!
I love our fireplace. It warms my heart as well as my toes through the long cold winter.

Non-stop Crafting

We've all been in a crafty mood lately--partly encouraged by the fast approach of Christmas. We set up this table in the living room for the girls to continue their creations while they watched the movie Elf with their friend.
Here's one little project completed. They love little things. I bought them a bunch of assorted seed beads at Hobby Lobby this week at half off. They have spent hours making little beaded creatures. I'm so impressed with their patience and their ability to work with those tiny beads!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Crocheting with a friend

We had a relaxing day indoors today listening to the winter wind and crocheting with a friend. Days like this remind me of how blessed I truly am.

Just in Time

M's new boots came just in time--we've got snow!

Tooth Deposits

M lost her tooth on Saturday and C lost hers tonight.
We were at small group when C's tooth fell out, which was memorable because there were several small children in our group who had never seen or heard of such a thing. The face of the little 2 and half year old was the best. I hope we explained it well enough to her that she won't have bad dreams about her teeth falling out.

It won't be long

We're waiting for snow. It hasn't shown up yet. A few flakes here and there, but nothing substantial.
We might not have snow, but it is chilly. We roamed this local park for about 30 minutes and then went straight home for hot chocolate.

Meanwhile, this guy stayed to see how many berries he could eat. He couldn't have cared less about having his picture taken. This scene from Christmas Vacation came to mind when I was less than 3 feet from him. (warning--there are a couple not-so-nice words in that clip)

How we handle Christmas

I can't show the whole picture because the bag is transparent and certain someones are known to visit this blog. But John and I had opportunity to do some Christmas shopping today for our girls.

When they were still very young we began the tradition of giving them 3 gifts. The gifts represent the gifts that Jesus received from the three Magi. Frankincense, gold, and myrrh.
Since frankincense was used as incense in the temple of the Israelites, we give them a gift that might help them grow deeper in their faith. In years past we've given them bibles, music, or devotionals.
Myrrh had various medicinal uses and for this reason their "myrrh" gift is something for their body. The category is wide here--especially for girls. The last few years we've given them clothes, but we've also given bubble bath, lip gloss, nail polish, etc.
The "gold" gift is something they really want. There is lots of space here too and usually it's the most difficult gift to choose.
The purpose for sharing Christmas in this way was to keep the reason we give gifts at the forefront of our celebration. And it keeps things simple. They know what to expect and we don't have to break the bank. And they love Christmas morning, just as much as any kid.
We also give them a few things in their stocking. But, we are handling that differently this year. Remember their efforts at raising money for our World Vision child by selling lemonade? They were able to raise about $35!! Pretty good for selling lemonade, right? Well, in order to send a gift directly to our little girl's family we have to send $75. John and I told the girls that if they wanted to send that money now we would make up the difference BUT we wouldn't be able to fill their stocking with store-bought stuff. We'd all have to work to make things for each other. They were perfectly fine with this idea and I was thrilled!

So that's what Christmas looks like for us this year. Do you have any other ideas on how to keep Christmas centered around Christ? I'd love to hear from you.