Happy 2012!

Happy New Year!!!

Yes, I am still here. I did initially take an intended hiatus over Christmas, but it was unintentionally extended because our internet has been down since Sunday, yikes!!!

This post is full of photos, so I will try to keep the text brief.....no promises though.

We spent the first week of our holidays with my family in Southern Ontario. If you want to see a lavishly decorated home at Christmas time, you have to visit my Mom's house! This is the tree in the corner of her kitchen, yep I said kitchen.

Meet "Sport", by brother and Shannon's miniature donkey! Those of you who recall the donkey story here - will know that my boys were thrilled to be able to use the three letter work starting with "A" that rhymes with grass! If you haven't read the story about the "A" word and are in need of a good laugh, click on over.

This came back to haunt me again when we took the boys to church on Christmas eve for a special live Nativity service. It was absolutely beautiful - huge, beautiful pipe organ, a set up drums, brass, beautiful & detailed costumes and of course, live animals. Goats, sheep and yep an a$$. On the way in (we were nice and early because we wanted a good seat), we saw the people trying to encourage the donkey to go inside the building... no boys, let's use the term donkey for tonight okay?.....donkeys are, of course, notoriously stubborn - well when we noticed that there was no donkey for the ceremony, we wondered what had become of her. On our way out, we met up with her in a hallway. Her name was "Isabelle" and she had decided that elevators weren't too cool, lol!

Homemade rhubarb jam all dolled up for gifting.

I love being in the country. There is a farm near Mom & Dad's that has race horses - it is common to see them jogging along the country roads.

I took some time to play with my camera while mounted on the tripod and was able to capture the fantastic glow from the tree in Mom & Dad's rec room. Yep, tree number two, I won't show them all, but there were at least EIGHT!!!

I love the ski toques Mom & Dad got the boys - looks like he is wearing goggles...

The Santa originally made and painted by one of my Dad's Uncles. It has been around for a long time.

Meet Roxy and Millie - my brother and Shannon's team. They provided us with two fantastic wagon rides (sadly there wasn't enough snow for the sleigh.) It is so fun to drive through the village - all the people in the houses wave at you as if you are in a parade, lol! We felt the need to shout "Merry Christmas!" There are always a few people who bring out their cameras as well!

Don't they look like they are having a conversation?
The view from the driver's seat. My brother encouraged me to try driving the team. I was once a horseback rider, so probably should have known better. It is harder than it looks! This team requires a great deal of tension - they would prefer to trot if allowed, especially on the way home!
Chester on the ride. Too bad, we have discovered that he is allergic to horses or hay, or both. He had some pretty nasty hives, watery/itchy eyes and got right stuffed up. We will stock up on Benadryl before our next visit. It was pretty mild out, but we brought along some hot cocoa anyhow!


During our visit, we got one of those snowfalls that sticks to everything and I just had to get outdoors and play with my camera & tripod.....these are the results - most taken at about 1 am, lol!

Trying to capture the beautiful snow laden birch in the front yard from inside - so glad I stayed up way too late to take these as most of it had slid off well before the sun came up.




Keep in mind, I was playing around, there may be some blurr....but I achieved some fun shots I think!

Home Sweet Home



Just had to shoot these lights for some reason, I'm already thinking of a quick and simple Christmas card I can do with this shot...


Okay, tried to keep it brief but it has been 2 and a half weeks after all! After spending a week in Southern Ontario, we flew home in time to celebrate New years at get out skiing! Unfortunately, I had a nasty cold, but I was determined not to let it ruin my holiday. It was great to have the week off with my boys - an entire week to ski and just hang out. I enjoyed myself so much that the Christmas decorations are still up, gasp!!! Oh well, the worst that can happen is they get dusty...

We have managed to get back into the swing of things - back to work and school - without too much difficulty. Three days down of the first week back and two to go. Weekend, here we come! Can't wait to hit the slopes again on Saturday & Sunday -we are crossing our fingers for more snow though, the conditions have not been great as the snow has been pretty scarce here!

How was your holiday? What are you doing to enjoy the great outdoors this winter?

I promise to be back with some crafty stuff sooner than later. I do have stuff made and even photographed, it is a matter of writing up some posts. I even snuck a little crafting in on the weekend as I was beginning to experience withdrawl after two weeks of no crafting whatsoever!!!

Cheers,
Shanna :)