And a very Merry Christmas to all of you...

On this glorious day of our Savior's birth, I pause to wish all of you in bloggy land a very Merry Christmas to you and yours. Like many of you, I will be spending this day with my family - hubby and the 3 crazy girls and hubby's little brother is supposed to come down for a few days! We will open presents, have a nice breakfast, relax - the kids will play and the boys will probably watch football, then a nice dinner together! Calm, quiet and just the way I like it! So to you all, remember why we all celebrate this day, thank God for your blessing and enjoy each other!

Merry Christmas!

sorry I've been MIA...

ok, I will apologize for being MIA for so long - caught up in all the Christmas preparations, I'm sewing a large number of our Christmas presents, so my sewing machine and I are close friends, and no, I'm not done yet, and now our trip home to Virginia has been cancelled because of that awful storm that's on the way, so I have to finish my sewing and then go stand in line at the post office with everyone else and their grandmothers! Poo, I am not happy. I have not lost my Christmas cheer, just have to shift gears. Once the sewing is done, I will be back to wish everyone a proper Merry Christmas!!!!

It wouldn't be complete without...

For the kiddos and the kids inside of us, no Christmas music sampler would be complete without Alvin and the Chipmunks!

More holiday music review....

I first heard about the a capella group called Straight No Chaser over a year ago - they are fabulous!! This year they came out with a Christmas album - you just gotta get it!! Some of their songs are simple and serious some of them are all mashed up and very funny! They got their start when they were students at IU (Indiana University) and went their separate way after graduation, but one of their videos hit the internet recently and it got to the eyes and ears of a record company and now they share their immense talent with all of us! I (thanks to my dear friend Bryan - shout out!!) now know how to embed the videos straight into my blog, so enjoy...... Straight No Chaser!

More Christmas music to enjoy.....

I promise nothing more and nothing less than a variety of music for your listening pleasure! I got this album 15 or 16 years ago and although I am no longer a big country music listener, I still LOVE this album! All the songs are great AND there are a lot of originals (unlike alot of others) and one of my favorite songs is "Sweet Little Jesus Boy". Like yesterday, I still don't know how to directly link You Tube videos like my dear friend Bryan over at "That's What I was Going To Say" (hint hint), so I hyperlinked the picture below and pasted it below just in case! Maybe SOMEONE will help me out and my next post will be more "user friendly"!! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFRaZPOPWXs&feature=PlayList&p=40DE380292E5C1FA&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=8

Holiday music review....

This may be a strange one to start with, but I really enjoy most of Christina Aguilera's My Kind Of Christmas album. I have to admit that I don't love the first song that much, but I really love "O Holy Night". I tried to hyperlink the album picture above, but in case it doesn't work, here is the You Tube link so you can check it out! I hope you like it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyTvF_9bbVU&feature=PlayList&p=1AE9E0AC901AA2AB&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=39

I plan on offering some more Christmas music listening options for you throughout the month of December! I pull out the cds on December 1st every year (of course not before!) but for some reason after Christmas day I have to put them away for another year - not sure why since I love it so much! Just crazy I guess! I have most of my decorations up and most of my shopping done, but lots left to do since we are making a lot of our Christmas presents this year - more personal but not always less expensive! I put the red bow of my car the other day and finally got one on hubby's car this morning before he left - last year he managed to escape without a bow, but I insisted this year!! I still haven't ordered my Christmas cards yet - yes, me the photographer, still hasn't ordered my own cards - on the list for today! So much to do, so little time!! Gotta run - my sewing machine is calling!!

Happy listening!

Dear Santa,

I know that I may be a little old for this, but just in case Santa reads my blog, I thought I'd put a couple things out there that he may want to drop off when he's flying over Indy Christmas Eve!

Yes, this is the main body of the D3000 - beautiful, isn't it? It's the professional version of the D80 that I currently shoot. Now let me justify this by saying that I love my D80, but 1) I really need to have 2 camera going at most of my shoots and 2) I rented one to see what it's like and the quality of the pictures is waaay better than what I can currently produce! Of course, the lenses for my D80 don't work on the D300, so I would need a couple lenses too! The number one is the basic 18-135mm or whatever the equivalent is for this model - it's the basic, must have lens that will do a lot, but not all, of what my current needs are! Then of course, there are the next line of must haves - we'll call it the 2nd tier of useful lenses!

You need something that will give you a lot more distance, something that will give you a nice wide angle, and a fish eye for those fun shots! Not, I don't currently own a fish eye lens, so I will be happy with one that fit the D80 or the D3000!!

I just want to put that out there for you Santa, in case you were wondering what to get me that I can't/won't get for myself!!

PS The girls are working on their lists, so I'll send them out shortly! Glad to see your mailbox is out at Circle City Center!!

One holiday at a time please...

Halloween is over. True. Time to decorate for Christmas? Seriously? I can not stand to walk into store in October and find Christmas decorations up already. Little S and I were in the grocery store on friday and there were NO Halloween things out at all, but Christmas candy took up 1/2 of an aisle and misc Christmas took up half of another. It's ridiculous! I love christmas, don't get me wrong, we even had a December wedding because I love Christmas so much, but did everybody forget about Thanksgiving? I am ready to put all the Halloween stuff away and move on - I always feel that way once a holiday passes, but I love getting ready for the next one and unless there was a calendar change made that I am not aware of, Thanksgiving is next! Time for turkeys, pilgrims and yes, still pumpkins (that's when the fact that we didn't get around to carvings ours comes in handy!); but NOT snowmen, stockings on the fireplace or santas - can we please wait until December to get them out? They will have the entire months to be on display. Until then, show me some pilgrims!!

Merry Christmas my dear blogging friends in cyper-space!  I hope that during this wonderful day you are all able to take a moment to pause and remember the first Christmas and the quiet birth of a blessed boy sent to be our savior.  The moments in that manger changed the world forever and I for one am certainly grateful!  As I look around the room at my husband and three beautiful daughters, I remember how blessed we are to have each other and to live the life that we are able to live!  I heard one time that if you have a roof over your head and 3 meals a day you are among the richest 1% in the world.  We are truly BLESSED!

Love and peace to you all on this wonderful Christmas day! 

Now we're off to the pool!!

Gayle

the new 12 days of Christmas

I found this and after I stopped laughing, I knew that I had to share this!  If you click directly on the image you should be able to see it big enough to see without binoculars!  

The artist is from South Africa and has an amusing sense of humor!  To give proper credit where credit is due, check out this link to his blog!  I may have a new favorite comic strip!!  http://madamandeveblog.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html

I think it would be great fun to have the family sit down and make up our own 12 days of Christmas - note to self, road trip entertainment idea!