Happy New Year!

I think I'll end the year with a photo I took way back on January 1. It's one of my favorites of 2008, and it seems appropriate for saying goodbye to another holiday season.

Gold Star

Since we always post the night before for our picture-of-the-day, I guess this counts as the last one for 2008, although I'll still have a photo up tomorrow. I can't believe I posted almost every day through the whole year (368 posts, 821 photos), missing only a few days in July when my dad was in the hospital. I've so enjoyed getting to know all my POTD buddies and seeing thousands of your inspiring photos. I thank you for sharing POTD with me in 2008 and look forward to joining you (although maybe not quite so regularly) in 2009! Much love! Here's a gold star (of sorts) for all of you:

2008 ornaments

I could probably fill a whole year's worth of blog posts with Christmas ornaments. These are DD's, DS's, mine, and DH's from my mom this year.

Oh yeah, did I mention that my son is driving now? He got his learner's permit just before Christmas. I think I blocked it out. Why is parenthood so scary anyway?

Fishy!

Santa brought me a fisheye lens! I had such a hard time deciding which one to put on my wish list. I love my Canon lenses, but I decided to go with the Tokina 10-17mm because I can minimize the fisheye effect and use it as a wide-angle. It's not as fast as the Canon though at 3.5-4.5mm versus 2.8mm on the Canon. We've been so busy since Christmas that I haven't had much of a chance to really try it out. Here's the view from my front door on Christmas Day.

At 17mm (and cropped a bit) ISO100 F11 SS1/200:
This next one is at 10mm ISO100 F11 SS1/250. It's so wide--I love it! You can see from my neighbor's house across the street on the left side of the frame to the dead end on the right side.
The full fisheye effect on my front door.

Christmas candlelight

Christmas

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

You know you're getting old when you start waking up before your kids on Christmas morning. I took the opportunity to snap a photo of the calm before the storm.

I totally scored! I am so spoiled:

Christmas treats

A virtual, no-calorie Christmas treat from me to you:

Oops, I couldn't resist trying this one:

I did not make these. I wish the treats I made came out this pretty.
I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas!

Ornaments

The parade of Christmas ornaments continues...
DH's from my mom last year. She gave him a kayaking life jacket, and this was his clue. I thought she did it because he sunk his kayak that summer. :-D
Just a sparkly tree I like.
We have so many fishing ornaments for my DH, although he only fishes a couple of times a year. I love S'mores ornaments, though.
We like to get an ornament for a souvenir when we go on vacation. When I got home from Arizona with this one, I noticed on the tag that it was made here in Maine LOL.
My kids want to know why this says snowman when it's Santa. I say that it says snow man, not snowman--a subtle yet important difference IMO and one which makes it accurate. :-)
As a Mainer, I must have a Bean boot.
DD picked this one out when she was little. Last year when she unwrapped it she realized how ugly it is. (My baby's growing up!) It still goes on the tree even though it's ugly--actually BECAUSE it's ugly.
This train matches my Winterberry Christmas dishes.
From Mom the year she gave us snowshoes.
The angel on top of our tree. We've had her since we got married 18 years ago, but she was lost for several years and only turned up again last year.

Poinsettia

Multiple poinsettia shots.

Christmas ornaments

Some more of my Christmas ornaments.
A Maine moose:
A Shaker box:
DD loved to watch Madeline when she was little, and we still say grace at dinner the Madeline way:"We love our bread, we love our butter, but most of all we love each other."
I've had this one since the year I got married.
I love snowmen.
And I loooooooooove The Grinch.

And the stockings were hung...

I don't have a mantel to hang our stockings. I always had stocking hangers and hung them either on the stairs or the window sill, but I've never liked the look of that much. I broke most of our stocking hangers last year and had been looking for some new ones that were cute but didn't cost like $20 each. Then I came across this wooden sign with hooks at my local craft store. Only $12.99, and it makes me happy!

Red and green sparkles

Golden Ice

I discovered that while I was doing something important like sleeping or watching TV, DH was out taking photos of the ice storm aftermath when there was a beautiful golden light.

Jingle Bells

Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, Robin laid an egg.

Do you have certain Christmas songs that you just can't sing the right way since you learned the kid version when you were little?
You can imagine how the "Dirty Christmas Carols" cassette tape my friend gave me in college has warped my mind. Man, that thing was filthy.

I apologize that the other night I posted on the POTD thread but did not get around to comment. My internet connection was super sloooooow for a couple of days.

Purple flower

Ice Ice Baby

A couple more ice storm photos: the aftermath.

Christmas ornaments

My tree is definitely not themed. Nothing matches, and the tree is getting really crowded because we get new ornaments every year. Someday I will give my kids all their ornaments to hang on their own trees when they leave the nest. These are a few I have in my Photobucket account.

My SIL gave us this glass pacifier the year my son was born:
This is from DD's first Christmas:
One of my favorites:

From my mom last year. She doesn't label our presents; she buys each person an ornament and attaches them to our gifts and we all figure out whose is whose. They always fit us perfectly and/or give us a hint to the present inside. My mom is the best.
One of my oldest ornaments (and given to me by my mom when I left the nest). I made it in Brownies when I was little. I call it "Jesus on a half shell."
DS's ornament from my mom last year. It actually plays the Sports Center theme music. Da-na-na! Da-na-na!
And of course we have to have a Red Sox ornament. Okay, we actually have three or four.
I think I have a story for every ornament on my tree. Aren't you glad I only picked seven to show?