Christmas Cactus

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Thought I'd share a pretty flower on a cold winter's day.  This guy is on my plant light rack safely inside where it's warm.

Sharing

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The kids after exchanging gifts this week.  Joey is showing Madi a new game on his Nexus 7 (Android tablet).  Johnny has graciously  handed his over to Madi and is watching.

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.

Pine Warbler

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Took this picture of a beautiful Pine Warbler out my  kitchen window.  Tried to take some Christmas light pics from the car window and none of them were worth sharing:-(

I've been really sick with a fever and runny nose.  Ugh.  Trying to get well before Christmas while still doing all that needs done for Christmas.  Hasn't been easy.

Had a real treat today.  Donnie installed a new 39" LED HDTV in our family room entertainment center for Christmas.  He did a great job implementing a customized mount with a swing arm.  Lots of research and planning allowed us to keep the original entertainment center which was designed for an old style TV.  At any point, I feel really blessed by all his efforts.  What a difference!  That 20 year old Sony Trinitron RIP.

Brrr...

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It's feeling a bit more like Christmas out there today!

Johnny Domo

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A quick iPhone 5 shot of Johnny wearing his Christmas Domo shirt.

Lights to Music

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Another house in our area that does light to music.  It's a bit of a struggle to expose the lights correctly because there are a lot of lollipop shaped real street lights that flash on and off and that are very bright.  Yet, I like the challenge.  It's also hard to get all the lights on when they are all going on and off all the time.  In the original shot 258 I didn't have the roof on.  Thankfully shot 259 did.  Yet shot 258 was composed better overall.  I pulled the  roof out of 259 and applied it to 258.  Otherwise just a basic crop:-)

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A Frosty Season's Greetings

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I like the original shot, but sometimes I get tired off all my Christmas light shots being on a dark background. I used Picasa with a very strong but then faded pencil sketch to transform this shot to look like it had snowed.  I then used the Boost filter to make it more colorful.  I had an error in Picasa where the boost didn't really save to disk correctly (multiple times) yet looked great on my screen.  I ended up taking a screen shot and then using Elements and Perfect Resize from OnOne to make the shot 16X20 300dpi.  I also toned down Santa's one bright leg and fussed iwth the tree branches in front of the house columns a bit. Text and Museum Matte frame added in Picasa too.

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Lake Myra TakeTwo

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Another shot from Lake Myra.  I like the first one better, but this angle is also pretty cool I think.

Here's the original.

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Lake Myra

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We went to Wendell, NC last night to see the Lake Myra Christmas light show.  They moved the show this year out of the front yard of two houses on a busy road to a vacant lot downtown.  It did seem safer.  It was quite crowded and finding just the right spot to set up with my tripod was tricky.  Donnie hung out with the boys and let me maneuver the display as I wanted.  That was really nice.  It's not just standing there with the boys it's wrestling the boys:-)  Thank you, Donnie.

This was our third year going.  Other galleries are here.  You can also search on my SmugMug homepage on Lake Myra to see cards from prior years.

The boys got to visit with Santa.

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Sasanqua Camellia

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We've had a few frosts even as recent as this past week, but the sasanqua camellia over my neighbor Judy's pond still looks gorgeous in the midday sun.

More Christmas Light Painting

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Several variations on a shot of a spiral Christmas tree.  Whimsical and colorfully pleasing I think.

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Christmas Light Painting

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On the way home from Joey's basketball practice tonight, I asked Donnie to drive us into one of the neighborhoods along the way.  Lots of decorated houses in this location.  I took quite a few pics here last year and was glad to take more this year.  Yep, me doing light painting again.  The little spiral tree is beside the angel below.  Love the multiple colors in the angel! The card is inverted of course:-)

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A Choir of Christmas Music

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Each year we drive by Happyland Christmas Lights near Cary, NC on Penny Road.  Each year he adds a bit more.  What an interesting mix of secular and religious and of new and antique.  Something for everyone!

I'll try to get more info on these older musical figures.  I know they are covered when it rains to protect their restoration.

The ferris wheel and the merry-go-round are my favorite.  Johnny was delighted to see a train inflatable this year.  We love watching for Santa in the upstairs window of the house too.

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Mickey Mouse has a sparkling spot in the display too.

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Hopefully we'll get back by the display a few more times before Christmas is over and it comes down.

All Decked Out!

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Every year when we go to Lights on the Neuse, we pass through the town of Clayton, NC.  And, each year Main Street is all decked out for Christmas with beautiful storefronts and older historic homes all aglow.  I just love this big white mansion of a house.  Looks like they use it for catering parties and such.  I almost caught this gorgeous white horse in front of the house.  Just now was to through a point and shoot flash far enough in traffic no less to capture the scene.  I had asked the horse owner a few blocks over if it was OK to use flash with the horse, and she said yes.

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Here is the horse up the road a bit from the prior shot.  Finished taking one couple for a horse drawn buggy ride, the owner was trying to line up some more business and talking with friends.

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Back to the house, this was the scene through the front door.  I like the sneak peek effect.  She never knew I was there.

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Here's a close-up of one of the bows in the front yard.  So pretty!

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Thanks to Leslie Perry the owner of Fantasy Fun Carriage for letting me take the pics of her horse.

Lights in the Quonset Hut

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I know this image is really out of focus, but I really like it anyway.  At Lights on the Neuse Saturday night, the tractors pulling the trailers of people pass through a Quonset Hut (I had to have Donnie tell me that name).  This is a picture inside the hut.  The tractor and trailer span the entire length...about 40'.  We were sitting right behind the tractor, and you're looking at the tractor cab and driver as we're driving through the hut.  The tractor stops and you get to enjoy the elves and  Santa and various light displayed before moving on.  This is near the beginning of the 20+ minute drive through the farm land.

Angel - Lights on the Neuse

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We went to Lights on the Neuse last night near Clayton, NC.  This is our 3rd year going but was Donnie's first time.  I'll probably share pics from there for 2 or 3 days.  Today I'll share the images from the 3D barn.  They have both religious and secular images in there all beautiful.  This angel is my favorite.  I've created a collage of the religious and secular images as well.

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It was 20 degrees warmer this year.  No gloves necessary.  No stinging feet on the way home in the van.  I even got Donnie to sit with us and Santa.  It was a great night!

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