25 Days of Christmas - December 16th

Legend of the Poinsettia

A charming story is told of Pepita, a poor Mexican girl who had no gift to present the Christ Child at Christmas Eve Services. As Pepita walked slowly to the chapel with her cousin Pedro, her heart was filled with sadness rather than joy.

"I am sure, Pepita, that even the most humble gift, if given in love, will be acceptable in His eyes," said Pedro consolingly.

Not knowing what else to do, Pepita knelt by the roadside and gathered a handful of common weeds, fashioning them into a small bouquet. Looking at the scraggly bunch of weeds, she felt more saddened and embarrassed than ever by the humbleness of her offering. She fought back a tear as she entered the small village chapel.

As she approached the alter, she remembered Pedro's kind words: "Even the most humble gift, if given in love, will be acceptable in His eyes." She felt her spirit lift as she knelt to lay the bouquet at the foot of the nativity scene.

Suddenly, the bouquet of weeds burst into blooms of brilliant red, and all who saw them were certain that they had witnessed a Christmas miracle right before their eyes.

From that day on, the bright red flowers were known as the Flores de Noche Buena, or Flowers of the Holy Night, for they bloomed each year during the Christmas season.

Today, the common name for this plant is the poinsettia!

Project 365 - Day 11

I liked this picture, but because of the snow it looks better in black and white then it did in color.

Project 365 - Day 10

Trying to take this photo made me realize that I need some work when it comes to portraits. People are just not as easy for me to shoot as trees or sandwiches or snow.

Besides improving the actual photography part of my portraits...I also need to work on my jokes. I'm pretty sure that I would get more smiles if I could get the punchline right.

25 Days of Christmas – December 15th

I’m a huge fan of Boston Big Pic, a picture blog that…like it says…is all about posting really big images. News stories usually have really small pics so it’s always nice to be able to see more detail in larger pictures.

They have a lovely post of Christmas pics from around the world. My favorite is the spaceman reindeer! What’s yours? Check out the post by clicking here!

25 Days of Christmas – December 14th

In honor of The A-Team being released on DVD…

First Lady Nancy Regan sitting on Mr. T’s lap who is dressed as a sleeveless Santa Claus handing out toys of himself. Merry Awesome Christmas!

Project 365 - Day 9

Smokestacks in the sunset.

25 Days of Christmas – December 13th

Bundled bird,
It is Christmas time, so sing for us again.
Beautiful bird,
With magical rhyme, bring us smiles again.
Hold us please,
With every word, bundled bird,
Shake the snow,
Spread your wings, sing and let us in.
Bundled bird,
Warm from the storm; share your melody
It is Christmas time,
Sing once more and we will always love thee.

Project 365 - Day 8

Berries on the tree outside the pharmacy. How pretty are the colors?

The Great Cookie Experiment

So I made shortbread cookies tonight. A lot of them. I had a recipe for basic shortbread and a lot of imagination. There was chocolate chips soaked in orange zest and juice, lemon glaze, sprinkles, cinnamon, chocolate, jam and powdered sugar. There was also raisins and nuts but I spilled the bowls onto the floor so I decided that I didn’t want raisins or nuts.

There is always something left off the recipe. Apparently, your butter shouldn’t be cold. That made a huge difference in being able to mix the cookies properly. Also, I’m WAAAAAAY too impatient to chill the cookies for 30 minutes before baking. I’m hoping that isn’t a huge necessity. My cookies seem to taste fine without the chilling first. I also kept chanting the Modern Family line from this weeks show “slow is smooth and smooth is fast!” because hurrying just led to me dumping cookies all over the place. 3 of the peach jam thumbprints, 2 of the cinnamon bars, a chocolate dipped cookie, a snowball and 2 lemon glazed cookies all died a horrible death on my kitchen floor.

Pictures will come later. I forgot to put my camera card in, so the pics are stuck on my camera until I can find that cord. Until then, just take my word for it…the cookies look awesome. They smell awesome. And they taste awesome!

Project 365 - Day 7 and 25 Days of Christmas

Can't be bothered to put up separate posts today because today is all about snow. SNOW! Real proper snow!

Complete with snow coating the branches like powdered sugar on cookies. So beautiful! Of course the roads are pretty icky, because it's poor Michigan that can't afford to plow. And because it's the first snowfall, there were a ton of people on the road. It wasn't just Gina and I out there on a grocery adventure!

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, since we've no place to go...let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Project 365 - Day 6

Christmas shopping today with Heather and we found these cute penguins all over Pier 1. Sadly, they didn't seem to be selling them. What's up with that?He's got wee little glasses on! He's adorable!

25 Days of Christmas - December 11th

When I was a kid, I loved Christmas television. Oh, I was a fan of the classic television specials, of course. I loved Frosty the Snowman because it was so exciting. Is Frosty going to save Karen from hypothermia? Will it come at the cost of his own life? What will happen?! Rudolph was always a hoot with the abominable snowman and the island of misfit toys. My favorite was The Year Without a Santa Claus, the story that had the Heat Miser and Snow Miser. Best characters ever. I loved Heat Miser's little furry 'fro and Snow Miser's basher hat and tap dancing. Plus, the tiny girl singing Blue Christmas always made me weepy.

Of course, there was also Christmas movies to watch a mixture of new and old classics that make you want to curl up under covers and watch by the light of the tree. It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas, The Santa Clause, Babes in Toyland, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Muppet Christmas Carol, Miracle on 34th Street, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! Those are just the ones I try and watch whenever they play during the season. Every year there are ones that I discover that I love and become a new tradition.

These days, I'm more of a fan of holiday-themed episodes of regular shows. The episodes of Bones where they celebrate Christmas in jail and Booth and Parker bring a tree. Supernatural's episode had the boys decorating a hotel room and exchanging gifts of oil and shaving cream. The Psych specials that come not only with holiday cheer but awesome carol-fied theme song. ER always had Christmas episodes that made me cry, so did the West Wing (Josh!). Scrubs, Designing Women, and Friends all made me laugh (although some more than others). It seems like every tv show did a Christmas episode, and there are a lot of the same concepts.

The last few years my holiday tradition is a bit British. I get embarrassingly excited about the Christmas special of Doctor Who. What can I say? I'm a total geek and having the Doctor around on Christmas is never a bad thing! Whether he is battling Sycorax or saving brides or driving the Titanic with Kylie Minogue or giant robots. Of course the 10th Doctor's goodbye was enough to break my heart last Christmas and I'm hoping that 11's special is much more upbeat this year. Doesn't matter though, I'll be glued to my computer (and tv since BBC America is finally airing the special on Christmas day this year!) after the presents have been opened in order to get my Christmas fix of my favorite Time Lord.

Snow is coming!

Lookit the pretty colors that all add up to Jen being a happy camper tomorrow! Snow, snow, snow!

25 Days of Christmas – December 10th

Playing Santa this afternoon reminded me of how much I love picking out gifts for people. Oh, I enjoy giving them away as well, seeing people smile or hearing their thanks…but I’m honestly more happy when I’m choosing a gift. Going to the store and picking out something that makes me think of the person. Something that just cries out “oooh, I’d be perfect for your friend” or “pick me for your brother, pick me!” I like staying up and crafting gifts, carefully (or in my case, not-so-carefully) sewing and cutting and taking bits and pieces and making them into something new and awesome. I love the idea that you get to know a person well enough that you can try and guess what they’d like.

There are lots of times when you get to give gifts…birthdays, mothers day, spring presents….but Christmas is unique in that we all get a chance to play Santa to all those we love. How cool is that?

Project 365 - Day 5

Snapping pictures of Heather's flowers today. Very spring-y looking for a day when we finally got some snow to stick to the ground (which has almost completely melted off).