Christmas Part Three and Four: Christmas Eve Traditions, Christmas Day

The night before Christmas and all through Grandma's home, not a turtle was jumping.....ok, maybe one.

In our family we read the birth story in the Bible and sing Christmas songs before gift giving. The girls were loaded with toys and clothes. The next morning Santa and Deedle left them small gifts, a chess set for Lil'Bug, a wooden doll set for Bluberry, and a wagon from Deedle for all of us. The girls helped Dearest put it together and I played with my camera. I've had trouble with getting the focus right on my SRL and suddenly, after owning it for 2 years, I discovered a dynamic focus setting. I love it. None of these pictures used it though, they did however get to be my first through Aperture, which I also love.

Oh, and for good measure and sake of historical accuracy...Dearest has spent the last few days wading in ice cold muck water because a drain backed up in the basement and the ice melt from around the house was all directed into the basement via an old drive under garage. It was a crisis because it made it difficult for me to get to my bacon. This picture is Dearest thawing hoses full of ice to use with a sump pump, which ultimately also froze and was replaced. Things are looking up I think, I'm not entirely sure I care since he waded through and brought me my bacon. Oh, and it's not sewage. So that's good. Merry Christmas!