Christmas decorating and some pictures!

"Dear friend,

I like to start my notes to you as if we're already in the middle of a conversation. I pretend that we are the oldest and dearest friends as opposed to what we actually are; People who don't know each others names and met in a chat room where we both claimed we'd never been before. 'What will NY152 say today, I wonder.' I turn on my computer. I wait impatiently as it connects. I go online, and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words: 'You've got mail.' I hear nothing. Not even a sound on the streets of New York, just the beating of my own heart. I have mail... from you."'

This is a quote from, probably, my favorite movie of all time. My husband and I watch this movie about 3-4 times a year. It is one of the things that we found we had in common right away. We would quote from the movie back and forth....I know, too cute huh? But I especially like to watch the movie around this time of year. While, in the movie, they show at least 3 seasons, it is the Christmas season that stands out most to me. Maybe it is the scene where they are singing a Christmas song I have never heard, though it sounds like it could be a completely legitimate Christmas carol! "The clarinet, the clarinet goes diddly diddly diddly det. The horn, the horn, it sounds so forlorn..." and so on...you really must see this movie.

This year, since we had our Thanksgiving a week early, my mom and I found ourselves out shopping the day after Thanksgiving....along with about a million other people, and we bought our Christmas tree! And yes, I got all my Christmas shopping done. Shew! I had already purchased most of my ornaments a few months back. Hey, it's not my fault the stores put out the Christmas decorations so early! So the minute I got it home and we set it up I was ready to decorate! This is the first tree my husband and I have had together since we've been together! We finally have room for it and we're not going out of town this year, so it was perfect timing. Below are some pictures taken through the process of getting the tree decorated. This will be the first time I've posted pictures to this blog from my new camera. All photos were taken with the manual setting. I've read and heard that this is the best way to learn how to take good photos. If anyone out there in blog land reads this blog, please feel free to leave a constructive criticism for me. I'm an aspiring photographer. I don't claim to be anything special....though my husband and parents would beg to differ. The adorable miniature schnauzer is our son, Oliver Amador. He is my practice model and has the patience of an angel.

Enjoy!

"Mama, can we stop taking pictures for today?"


The final product! It's kinda like the circus!
My husband calls it the Easter tree.