enjoy your day and the fact that you are not sickly like me!


my sister shelly always brings a lot of cheese to Christmas... no, the truth is that she's excited because she got a camera, too!
check out my dad's sweet Christmas shirt. He splattered it himself. He is a splatter paint artist. no, for real... he really likes paint.
my grandma's got the Christmas spirit going on, too! Check out that sweater! She also made these:
everyone in our family has one... i'm sure my mom's is pretty old and mine was made when i was born. even though they don't really function as stockings (either to wear or stuff goodies in) they are a holiday staple in our family.
after we returned to DeLand, we went here:
located inside DeLeon Springs State Park (next to a spring that maybe was thought to be the fountain of youth for a few minutes) this little restaurant is great! You get to make your own pancakes on griddle in the middle of the ta-bibble (sorry, i didn't want to mess up my rhyme).

later I went to visit my friend Mike (who was home from Moscow) and I took along Sam and her 18 month old daughter, Emily. After a nice chat, we played in the back yard/side of the golf course. I kept chasing emily around to get a cute picture, but she was pretty fast!
I'm getting closer...
success! the trick is, sit her on a railing where she can't get down and then take the picture. but, she's such a cutie, i think my effort paid off, don't you?
ah, old friends. we are getting old. I met Sam in 3rd grade and I think I met Mike in 6th or 7th grade. We sat next to each other in band. yep. haha! Sam and I played french horn and Mike played bass clarinet- sorry friend, your secret's out now!