Christmas Morning at our Home

Hello There --and Happy New Year!!!!  Hope all of you had a fabulous Christmas.  I do have one more set of photos to share --that of Christmas Morning at our House... Hope you don't mind seeing one more set of Christmas pictures!!!!!

George and I did have a fabulous Christmas this year.  We were on the road 3 different days---visiting family... On Dec. 20,  we drove to Tullahoma and celebrated Christmas with Dad Adams... Then on Dec. 22, we drove to Dalton, GA and had a wonderful day with son Jeff and his bride, Dawn.  AND--on Dec. 23, we drove to Nashville and visited with George's beautiful daughter, Kelly, and hubby Chuck (who were visiting friends in Nashville)...

Because we did the 'family thing' ahead of time,  George and I celebrated Christmas at home with each other --and enjoyed a fabulous day together both on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day.  We enjoyed a couple of our traditions on Christmas Eve;  one was sitting together and listening to the entire MESSIAH on CD,  and the other was opening ONE gift each along with sharing some Eggnog before going to bed. 

Then on Christmas morning,  we slept in (which was nice),  had breakfast and did our devotions BEFORE opening presents.  (That's a switch from the olden days when we had children at home.)  Then we cleaned up, got dressed and took our set of photos together using the tripod... We do this every Christmas --so that we'll have some new pictures for next year's Christmas Cards...

For those of you who know us,  you will know that even though I make a 'big deal' out of Christmas (and most everything else in our lives---ha),  we don't spend alot of money at Christmas.  One of our traditions is buying each other special ornaments each year for our tree.  We love doing that so that every Christmas, we can relive the previous years through our ornaments.

Hope you enjoy seeing some of this year's photos.. Be sure to click on them for enlargements...  Above is a picture which George took on Christmas morning BEFORE we opened our presents.

Here are a couple of t-shirts we gave each other.  We had never had a Great Smoky Mountain National Park t-shirt --even though we have been there a million times and love it there.   George got us a Grand Canyon Sunset t-shirt ---made from a photo which he had taken when we were there in 2011.

These are some of the ornaments we gave each other this year.  There's a music one --since we both love music.  There's a bird one--since I love my backyard birds...  The one in the bottom right corner is of Beehive Geyser (Yellowstone).  George took that photo when we were there this past September.

Here are some more pictures taken that morning... See that cup?  George took a picture from one of our Fall trips to the Foothills Parkway in the Smokies and had it put on two cups for us...  AND--see the angel?  That is a beautiful Willow Angel which hangs on the tree.  I collect Willows --so was THRILLED to have this new one.

Here are more ornaments... The top one on the left is a picture George took from inside the Air Force Academy Chapel when we were there in September.  Next to it is a Mt. Rushmore ornament... Below on the left is a little wooden angle for our tree... AND--the new Willow Angel is beside it...

I love my new Waterfall Calendar,  and George  (and I both) love our new Electric Blanket... Santa knew that we needed a new one since our old one quit working!!!

Here are just some of the 'many' pictures we took with our tripod on Christmas morning... You'll have to pick out your favorite... I'm saving my favorite one to show you at the end of this post....

Here's one more set of pictures from our gift exchange... There are three of George's pictures which he had blown up and framed... I especially love the one in the top left.  I've never had a canvas picture before --and this was taken from one of our favorite places,  Skyline Drive in Virginia...  The middle one on top shows my new Photo Shop Elements 11 program.  AND-the framed photo on the right was taken by George in the Smokies.  The photo on the bottom right is of Pikes Peak --and shows those gorgeous Aspens in bloom.

AND----to prove that both George and I can be SILLY (not that I need to prove that--ha ha),  here are a couple of crazy pictures taken while we were taking tripod pictures --looking for that perfect shot.

Finally,  here is my favorite Christmas picture of us taken in 2012... This one will probably be on next year's Christmas Cards--unless we change our minds between now and then... ha ha

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and a fun New Year's celebration.  Did you have your 'black-eyed-peas' yesterday---for good luck???  I always make Hoppin' John  (which is a rice, black-eyed-peas, bacon, ham, sausage, onions casserole) ---so hopefully, we will have a fabulous 2013...

Love to ALL,

Emoticons

Our Lights are LIT

Today is December 21... Are you READY for the birth of Jesus?  We have our lights shining in honor of the birth of Jesus Christ.  I have shared the inside of our home ---so today, I'll share the outside.  We decorate outside --but it's not elaborate like some people's decorations.  However,  it's 'us' --and the way we like things!  Hope you enjoy them.

The picture above shows our little house from the front.  We have 3 lit wreaths,  a small lit tree on the porch, and various lights/candles/bows around...

Here is a close-up of the garage side of the front..

This is a picture of one of our three wreaths in front...  They are all pretty,  each in their own ways!

Here is a close-up of our porch.  The little tree is filled with lights, red bows and candy canes... (That is a lamp shade glaring from inside.)

And here is another of our wreaths from up close.

Here is another angle of the porch side of our home.

And,  from our backyard,  here is one part of our deck.  Note the wreath on the wall also back there.  The lights on this one quit working a couple of years ago,  so it is now 'ruler' of the deck!!!!! ha  (If you are fairly new to my blog,  I'll tell you that the arbor was built when we put in the new deck to hold my bird feeders--which get put away at nights to keep the raccoons out of them.)


And the next three are pictures taken from our back yard.

For your information (in case you are wondering),  that big black looking thing in the picture is our umbrella --all folded up for the winter...  Looks kinda strange from this angle... ha

Finally,  here is my favorite wreath picture this year.  I guess the red bows and poinsettias just make it easy to get a good 'dark' picture....

Hope you and your family have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and  a HAPPY NEW YEAR... George and I plan to ----but we'll be on another Blogging Break from now until JANUARY 2, 2013.

God Bless Each and Every One of YOU ---and let's all pray for each other and for our country and world.

Much Love,

Emoticons