it's the most wonderful time...

of the year... well, i don't really like superlatives, but i think in the spirit of my blog title i'm going to try and post using only song titles for my, well, post titles. that's a lot of titles. good thing sean connery's not reading this. : )

okay, so i got a great camera for Christmas (thanks, parents!) and now let the fun blogging begin!

First, i tested it on some available family members. Good thing they were up for it!

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).




these are my tasty pancakes. I made them with chocolate chips, bananas, and a little honey on top. they were soooo good!


they were so good I am even including this picture which is not so flattering of me, but gets my beautiful pancakes from their best angle.



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!




then on the way home later that night, the moon was setting and it was big and orange and crazy. This picture is the best i could do without a tripod. I tried to take it for about 2 minutes and then it sank behind the trees and was gone. If you look closely, you can see the street signs and that car to give you some perspective of how big it looked!

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable holiday time! Family, friends and fotography! my favorite!