Guess What I Got????!!!

Ahh! I'm about to die of excitement!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

December 24th: Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas Eve! I hope everything is going well with all of you this Christmas. Our family is also very excited- Cashew and Pistachio have the exact amount of hours left figured out (almost to the minute!). The funny thing is that we aren't allowed to leave our rooms until 7:00 am Christmas Morning, so they're very forlorn. We're playing Christmas Music, wrapping last minute presents, and waiting anxiously for the rest of the extended family to come over so that we can gobble up the danish pastries waiting on the counter. They are definitely my favorite Christmas tradition. :)

But through all the hustle and bustle of family, food, happiness, activities, and Santa Claus, the true spirit of Christmas shines through: The innocent baby born in a lonely manger in Bethlehem so many years ago.

The wealthy and prominent were not there to celebrate his birth; the humble shepherds from the nearby hillsides, watching over their flocks, were told instead. The king made no speech to commemorate his birth, instead, concourses of angels sang. This little baby, so innocent and meek, would someday redeem all the world from everlasting torment. This was the son of God.

I love the saying "Wise Men still seek Him." It is true. Christ is the spirit of Christmas and the true reason for this wonderful time of the year. He is what makes it wonderful. I hope all of you have a wonderful, Christ-Centered Christmas this year!

December 23rd: 2 days 'till Christmas!

Does it seem like Christmas time to you? I don't know about me! Because of my school district's dumb decision to not let us out 'till yesterday, I don't know if I've had time to get into the Christmas spirit!

Luckily, All of my shopping is done and packed under the tree, so I'll have time to just sit downstairs, watching the lights on the tree glow. There's nothing else in the world that I love more than the magical feeling I get while sitting in front of a lighted Christmas Tree in a darkened room. It's lovely.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Love,

In a Different Light. . .

On Christmas Eve, we went on a drive to see the Christmas lights and I decided to use a picture-taking technique that I learned in a Young Women's meeting.  Here are the results. 

Scroll down to figure out how to do this on any camera.  

Okay, to get results like this, you have to find a light like a traffic one, or Christmas lights like I used here, but it just has to be very dark with a few lights.  

Set your camera to a really slow exposure.  On my camera, I used a setting called "Fireworks," because I couldn't find how to change the exposure.  

Now point your camera toward the light and push the button halfway down to let it focus.  

When you're ready, push the button down to take the picture.

Once the button is pushed, move your camera all over the place and shake it, or move it in whatever pattern you want to do.  If you want a specific pattern, it's best if there's only one light to work with.  

Keep shaking it and squiggling it until it's done taking the picture.  You usually end up with something really cool.  

If you're doing a specific pattern, let's say you're doing a star, keep moving the camera in that shape until the camera's done, trying to stay on the same lines.  

Painting with light can be a blast!  Hope you have fun with it, too.

Bad News Next Foggy Christmas. . .

Christmas Eve Plans

When the Christmas Spirit came, it really CAME.  Now I'm prancing around and bouncing off of the walls in excitement.  I guess that it's something about Christmas Eve.  

But now I would like to illustrate my plans for the best Christmas Present that I'm giving this year.  

It's for Corn Nut. . .

It's about the size of a loaf of bread. . .

It's soft. . .

It's ALIVE!

It's got long, floppy ears. . .

It's Chocolate Brown. . .

I bet you're all excited. . .

Here it is!

Corn Nut has always wanted a mouse. . . but we kind-of oppose to that because there are plenty of wild ones running around the farm. . . so one of my best friends (who I stole this picture from) has baby rabbits for sale.  We're picking the chocolate brown one in the back up today, after Brazil Nut has finished the hutch.

Wowza!

I can't believe that it's only one day until Christmas!  It always seems like I have plenty of time to get stuff ready- but no. . . . .

Christmas is always too sneaky for that- so here I am with 1 more present to get before the day 

after tomorrow.  Ugh.  

Here is a picture of the birds that Corn Nut took pictures of in the window well.  He thought that they were amazing.

Doesn't it look Chilly?

Finally. . . . .

I am happy to announce that we have FINALLY put up and decorated our Christmas tree.  It is five days until Christmas- and it took us this long to get organized.  :)  Well- once we got the idea in our heads, it only took us about an hour.  Five eagerly helping kids in this family got it up FAST.  And I think it actually looks pretty impressive. . .

P.S.- Don't mind the 'Snakes of the World' poster behind the tree- we're still trying to decide what it has to do with Christmas, but we're too busy to take it down. :)