Camellia Out the Kitchen Window

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I would be remiss if I didn't share a capture of the camellia that's just out my kitchen window too.  This bush is 20' tall and 10' wide...a bit of a freak made so by the warm heat from the dryer vent on the wall behind it.  The birds fly in, grab a sunflower heart, and go back to the tree to break it open and eat it.  I tried to line up a shot of one of the cardinals with a flower in it but no luck yet.  It's 49 today, and we haven't had too many nights below freezing although tonight it will get into the 20s.  The currently open blooms will suffer in the cold, but with each warm-up we have, a few new ones will open.  I just have to scare off the squirrels trying to eat them.  Apparently they taste as good as they look.

Female Downy Woodpecker

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This is the mate of the male downy woodpecker that I posted a few days ago.  They most always show up together.  Today was the first day she came as close as the male as been coming.  I sure do enjoy the birds out my window...  Not as crisp a shot as I'd like but I'm glad I was able to capture her.

All Lined Up!

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One more Christmas shot.  Taken at the same house as yesterday's shot.  Donnie noticed this line-up and suggested I try to capture it.  I took about 10 shots and liked this one the best.  I spent some time cleaning up the black caps and other minor imperfections on the plastic.

Manger

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We had reason to be out yesterday.  Our weekly farm pick-up happens every Tuesday even on Christmas since the animals don't take a break:-)  We made a point to scope out a few of the houses on the local Tacky Tinsel Tour.  This house in Cary had a ton of older plastic figures in the yard including this nativity scene.  I spent some time cleaning up bright spots and chipped off paint to make it look as nice as possible.

Here's the whole house and front yard.  They certainly crammed a lot into a small area.

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This house a few miles away had their lights going to music. We have a few of these musical displays in our area, and this one was done very nicely too.

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Both of these spots were first time views for us, and viewing the lights was a nice way to end our lovely Christmas day.

Merry Christmas!

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I got a lot of things that I wanted for Christmas including this shot of me and Donnie!  While we had on our red shirts, I made a few minutes and set up the tripod and used the self timer.  Usually one of the kids takes pics if I want, but the last few times they didn't turn out as good as I hoped.  I immediately updated my Facebook profile picture and then cover photo to match.

I think I've gone 24 hours without fever now but I'm still coughing and going through tissues.  Johnny is a day or so behind me, and Donnie is trying hard not to get it.  We tried very hard not to let it put a damper on Christmas, and it didn't.

Milk and graham crackers with chocolate nut butter was put out for Santa on Christmas Eve.  We use this plate and mug every year.  A nice tradition I think.  Carrots are for the reindeer.

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I came out to the kitchen this morning, and the kids were so excited to tell me what the elves had done last night.  Christmas magic for sure!  Donnie gave me the Food Network pots and pans from Kohl's.  The elves helped to deliver:-)

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It was a Nexus 7 Christmas at our house.  How about at yours? Donnie already had one, and Santa bought one for each of the boys.

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Angry Birds made an appearance too:-)  Some from Santa and some from the Tedrow Family.

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Gotta take care of the guy on my list that does such a good job taking care of me.  One of the things Donnie got was a battery powered chainsaw.  Hopefully perfect for small and quick jobs.

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Dinner was an organic smoked ham that we ordered from a farm in Wisconsin.  It was very good.  We broke our very low carb diet and had some sweet potatoes in butter and brown sugar sauce and a cheesecake with black cherry and maple syrup topping.  Yum!  Cauliflower mash, organic sparkling apple cider, and broccoli rounded out the meal.  Oh, and there was homemade cranberry sauce too!  Silly Joey won't eat ham, so I fixed him a small steak.

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Smiling faces like this

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and special moments like this made my day.

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All smiles until next year...

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Downy Woodpecker

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Another shot in my recent bird series.  This is the first time this male has come up to the back porch so close to my kitchen window.  I was ecstatic!  

Male Cardinal

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Also a shot out my kitchen window.  I thought the red was Christmas appropriate.  Feeling a bit better but not 100%  The fever tried to come back today:-(  Johnny is sick too now.  Double ugh.