At some point in my stay here in Perth, I started to concede that I would not be going home for Laura’s birthday, Thanksgiving, nor for Christmas. I had resigned to open up the internet and shop for my family the best way I could. Gradually, I got used to...
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ~ Plato For all of its faults, Facebook can be a load of information, and I was excited to read an announcement about Christmas Light Trails...
I am hosting Christmas Day and the dishwasher decided to break. No time to bring out the Canon on Christmas, so I only got a few photos from my cell phone. And seriously? The dishwasher had to break then and leak water to Laura’s room below? As if hosting...
I don’t know what happened this year with Rubí, but she turned into this Christmas details monster as soon as the season hit. It was a very precious kind of “monster” no doubt, but each day she seemed to hit me with some new details on her invisible list that...
The Christmas village in our household took on a few forms but nothing like this year…with Yowies??? Forgetting the yowies for a second, I should tell the history of our Christmas Village. As far back as I can remember, my dad was the main person behind the village, putting the...
“Our home, our family is a circle of strength of love with every birth and every union the circle grows.” As always-tragic to be away from John, always good to be in the home of my childhood and with my children, and their children. On this return, I didn’t even...
“It’s true that shopping is cheaper than therapy” So it’s the start of November and Georgie and I decided for a girls day out shopping and lunch. Life kept getting in the way of some time out together, so I was so grateful for this chance before I had to...
Perhaps Christmas at Georgie’s will be an annual event, as this is now year two that we have it. Since Georgie and I both believe that Christmas is a season, not one day, and we’d be crazy to do all the work and expense of it for JUST one day,...
Yay! The children came home! The upstairs part of the family went away for Christmas to Wisconsin, and we missed them very much. So we enjoyed them so much the very day they got back! All these lovely moments, I treasure in my heart always.
The Bible tells us that after Jesus was born, wise men from the East saw the star and looked for the promised Messiah. They stopped to ask Herod, “Where is the new born King?” The Bible also tell us: Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the...
In a time when I see recurring instances of governments and society trying to completely erase the reason the world even has Christmas, this song, sung by George really touched me. Play to hear the song. Where’s The Line To See Jesus? Christmas time was approaching, the snow is starting...
After many days of preparations, early celebrations, Christmas Day with the family was finally here.
Christmas Eve was suddenly here. We had a few snow flurries and then it was time to begin our evening together. John and I always take the photos and it’s rare we are the ones being photographed. Seemed for our first Christmas together, we should pose for a few. Besides...
Sunday was a day of going to church, having a big lunch, shopping at Bj’s, watching the Raven’s game, baking oatmeal raisin cookies, and then Laura drove John and I around so we could take photos of the Christmas lights around the neighborhood. First, Larua’s favorite house in Pasadena. One...
After two whole days of grueling travel, my husband from Perth has reached Maryland to celebrate Christmas with us. We’ve had some chill days, letting John get rested from his trip, well as chill as it gets around here anyway.
Things are getting a little crazy around here waiting for John to get here, for Christmas to come… Nobody photo bombs like Miranda! I love how Miranda gave Rubà “new” hair!
From Wikipedia: Yowie was a brand of chocolate encased toy line, manufactured by Cadbury Australia and based on the mythology surrounding the Australian Yowie. Invented by Bryce Courtenay and Geoff Pike, they were similar to Kinder Surprises in that they are basically a chocolate shell around a plastic capsule, with...
Thorny devil that is. Some time back John sent Miquel a thorny devil figure. Vicious looking but delicate, it survived the trip from Australia to Maryland, but it wasn’t long it broke and had to be glued back together. We didn’t have the wall unit back then so I took...
Sunday brought Christmas! We went to church and family came soon after. I didn’t get many photos, perhaps after a few rounds of presents, I was tuckered out. 🙂
Presents bought and wrapped, cookies baked, house and tree decorated, what’s left to do? WAIT for Christmas!
Growing up, Christmas music, Christmas plays, Nativity Scenes, and Christmas Cantatas at Church were a part of the season. My sister, mom, and I participated in more than a few Christmas Cantatas. Often times the music would play in my head as we practiced for the special night or day...
There is a big mistake that we can often make leading up to Christmas. Too much rushing around and not enjoying the MOMENTS. For many years now, I have treated the whole holiday like a season, and not allow all this preparation to be for ONE DAY. So I am...
As many already know, Laura and I are keen to start our journey into portrait photography. Laura got her first dslr camera, and we are looking forward to our second wedding gig this month. I like to practice and perfect this craft. I have a family willing to help me...
I have on my desk three large stacks of record albums. While moving things around in the living room to make room to put flooring down, I found record albums that belonged to Mom, Dad, my grandmom, and some of my old ones. I decided to put the titles into...
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto...
I just added to my music collection, most of it Christmas of course! 1. Andre Rieu – Amazing Grace (2:47) 2. Medley: Hark, The Herald Angels Sing – It Came Upon A Midnight Clear (3:04) 3. Medley: Pat-A-Pan – While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night (2:51) 4. Bing Crosby...
This Christmas Eve was special with Enric, Miranda, and Silas here with us. Jenny, back from school, was here too! The evening was sweet starting with our Christmas Eve service at church, and my guess is, that is when the hilarity got its start. Silas didn’t go into the nursery...
Each year mom sets up a Christmas Village. While I was growing up it was under the tree, these past years, she has set it up on the piano. With Silas in the house, I wondered how long it would be before he would discover the wonders of make believe...
This time I missed Jenny, Petra, and Leoni, but this year we had Miranda with us to decorate our Christmas cookies!
Many years ago, a game arrived from Spain called Laberinto 2. Enric took to the game immediately and poured many hours into it, trying to win this challenging game. It ‘s made from plastic and had two knobs which is used to move a tiny ball around a maze, avoiding...
Not just any goat cheese, the cheeses of Tumalo Farms. Flavio and Marge sent a lovely box with a variety of cheeses all fixed up in a nice Christmas packaging. It was nice to have Petra (from Holland and no stranger to cheeses) with us when giving it a taste....
John sent Mom an original calendar, a blue fairy wren figure.
Ok, it’s been a few weeks since Enric, Miranda, and Silas left… …but I’ve been wondering if they didn’t leave us a little something extra for Christmas? I’ve spotted a few of these little fellas… This ladybug species was purposely introduced into the U.S. from Asia in the latter half...
Surprises can really happen anytime, when they happen at the Holidays, and with the most thoughtful of gestures, it can really touch you. I am really touched. Over the years, Unique Exposures got a new member who’s photography I have enjoyed, but when he started to send a weekly photo...
It’s not even Christmas yet, and alread I am feeling the blessings of the season through gifts, and as usual I like to share with them to my blog readers. My very FIRST present this year was from Enric and Miranda. They noticed my reaction to the lovely birch trees...
Decorating Cookies We have Petra and Leoni here from Holland for the holidays. After a few days of some solid Christmas shopping, we finally had time to settle down, go to church for the cantata and break out the sugar cookies to decorate with Jenny helping us. We decorated mom’s...
