O Christmas Tree

Two of my three trees are up this year. I have completely run myself ragged getting Christmas together (the back pain from shopping and wrapping and working and chasing and lifting and carrying around an extra 30 pounds is horrendous) so the third tree and other decorations (like those I collected this fall for Zoe's tree, which will be a fairy/secret garden themed tree ... she has 2 fairies, 2 butterflies, and 4 green glass ornaments so far ...) have been packed away safely in anticipation of more energy on my part next year (ha!). But the trees photographed above really are my favorite two: The gingerbread tree, and our main tree, the red tree. I tried to take some good photos by playing with my camera's ISO and other settings (thanks for the tips Susie!).

On a funny note, we went to a Christmas party this weekend where Santa arrived and you had the option of bringing a small gift for him to give your child while he was there. Well, when he got to Nick's gift, he YELLED out "Nicholas!? Where is Nicholas? That's MY name!" and scared the crap out of my little guy, who started crying and didn't want to take the gift Santa offered him (even thought it was a cool red bird and Nick l-o-v-e-s birds).

My child isn't a huge fan of Mr. Claus. Yet.

Sadly, another child at the party had parents who either didn't remember or couldn't afford to give him a gift from Santa so the hostess collected money from everyone and put it in an envelope for him. All of the other kids' gifts were thoughtfully chosen and wrapped; it was hard to watch him open his envelope of singles without a sign of joy or happiness on his face. {sigh} Makes me wish I had been thoughtful enough to bring an extra gift just in case. I will next time. It was another reminder to me of the many blessings I tend to take for granted.

Merry Christmas to you all.