Christmas Eve Eve

Coming down the mountain into Ramona after the rain... no smoke, just clouds.

-CtF

Its beginning to smell a lot like Christmas...

Pipparkakor Bread... a Swedish Christmas must!  My mom has been baking these little loafs and its definitely one of the smells I associate with Christmas.  That warm bready smell mixed with cinnamon, cloves, and cardamon...What smell makes you think of Christmas?  Cinnamon?  Peppermint?  Evergreen?

Ok grab the kleenex, this does have something to do with Christmas...

UPDATE (12/22): Here's a great synopsis of this Christmas miracle.  You still do need tissues though ;)

Just read about this through another blog... a real life Christmas miracle.  Check it out if you get a chance!

[just a mild warning- the linked blog has some harsh language- not in the actual post that I've linked but in other parts... but its still worth reading about an amazing community of generosity!]

-CtF

this has nothing to with Christmas...

...except maybe the joy aspect... still you should totally watch this to the end!

-CtF

2010 Christmas Tree!

Ok... Mr. Incredible made me take the Austin Angel down... saying something about it being sacrilegious... but I thought it was a nice touch!

This may be a problem...

and there may or may not be a treat hidden in the tree... but I wouldn't know anything about that!

The Nose

Another photo experiment with my fisheye lens.  Nora seems to be an ideal model with long nose.  Now if only she would hold still for a second!

I'm watching NBC's Sing Off... love it!  But Mr. Incredible and I are also huge Ben Folds fans so we kind of have to love it. (BF quote of the night, "The harmonies, to use another technical term, were sick.")  But I think its way better than American Idol.  (Mr. I is rooting for the Whiffenpoofs...weird)

Our house and credit card bill are starting to look like Christmas.  The former we're happy about, the latter, not so much.  We still need a tree and the outside of our house is sadly lacking Christmas lights.  Our neighbors are probably wondering about that... since we had quite the Halloween display... we just know that we can't compete with the old people down the street with the blow-up lawn decoration problem... one of these days I'll sneak down the street with my camera and share it with you all.

Speaking of Christmas, Mr. Incredible has some hiding place in the house for my Christmas presents.  I know I can't hide things from him so everything gets wrapped as soon as I get home from shopping, but he's been shuttling boxes to the back of the house and acting suspicious.  So far I haven't found his stash.  Which is hard to believe considering the size of the house and the fact that I am the person who vacuums and puts things away...

I think that concludes this random post.  Hopefully I'll start taking my camera on outings again so we can prevent this randomness from occurring again... we'll see...

Thanksgiving Weekend

Over Thanksgiving weekend, my family joined Mr. Incredible's family in Mexico for a little R&R...

We also visited San Felipe- on the Sea of Cortez for shopping and AMAZING shrimp tacos.  San Felipe appeals to lots of Americans looking for cheap retirement, beachside property, and solitude.  There are housing developments for several miles as you approach the city and all of the typical touristy- Mexican handicrafts you find everywhere in Mexico.  

Ahh, but the beach...

That's Mr. Incredible testing the water.  It was a kind of cool, windy day so no swimming for us but plenty of beautiful ocean views.

Looking for a secluded beach?  Found it!

And you're only steps away from some of the best fish and shrimp tacos I've ever had (for those Rubio's fans out there, San Felipe is the home of the fish taco).

All in all, a fun day :)

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY....

I wore red and grey striped socks...

Just thought I should share that with you all....

vintage fall

This morning I woke up with the Christmas bug... ready to decorate, try out a new color for Christmas, even (yikes!) hit the malls to do a little shopping.  

But then I remembered my house still in post-Halloween disarray... and decided that maybe I better do a little clean-up instead.

So here's a few Halloween-Thanksgiving-Fallish shots because afterall, it IS still Fall, not Christmas... let's not rush things too much!

-CtF

randomness in the drive thru

heirloom

My Uncles are in town!  Uncles that are normally not in town.  My dad has five brothers- and three of them were here last week all together.  My grandfather is not doing well health-wise and so there were many serious discussions and big decisions made over the last few days.  

But there were also opportunities to reminisce.  And one of the shared memories all the 'boys had, was of this couch:

Solid wood with worn-velvet cushions.  Ornamental legs and wicker panels... its a beast of a piece of furniture:

My grandmother always smiled when she talked about how her little boys would use this couch as a crib and playpen.

But the boys have different memories...

Memories of waiting, lined up on the couch for discipline and scoldings... for sitting, waiting for their father to get home to deliver the punishment and then unexpectedly bursting into giggles at some childish joke- only to have their 'time-out' extended.

'Couch-talk' went on one night for several hours- the boys grimacing as they shared about various forms of corporal punishment they endured... and instead of directing hurt toward their parents, this couch seemed to receive the blame.

So we dragged it outside and made them all pose for a family portrait with 'The Couch.'

And despite the 'not-so-fond' memories, all the brothers mentioned how they wouldn't mind inheriting The Couch someday...

I caught a rare smile from both of my grandparents here...

Funny how furniture can take on a life of its own... funny how it can be interwoven into our histories and take on a personality without us even realizing it...

Does your family have anything like this?  

-CtF

The Revelry Continues!

Pirate Party Halloween 2010