Merry Christmas

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas

Reindeer

 Cardinal

Blue Jay

Let Heaven and Nature Sing

For more Christmas Critters of all Kinds

visit Camera Critters

MERRY CHRISTMAS

From the cold snowy mountains and ridges of Pennsylvania to your warm snug homes everywhere;

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

May your holiday be full of love & joy as you celebrate this winter holiday with friends and family and may your hearts be full of the joy & anticipation for a great new year that’s just around the corner.

No Snow, No Problem

A Warfordsburg area farmer, intent on decorating, was not deterred by the lack of snow

Christmas is for Kids

Nothing lights up a child’s eyes like dreams of Christmas

Christmas trees, Santa Claus, Reindeer, and Sleighs; the Manger, Mary, Joseph, the Three Wise Men and the Baby Jesus are all a part of Christmas but for a child these things are all trimmings.

The Real Meaning of Christmas is………….PRESENTS!

Lots and Lots of Presents!!!

Kyla’s eyes lit up when I asked her to pose in front of her Christmas tree. With a flick of her head her hair fell perfectly in place; her beautiful smile lit up the room complete with a few traces of chocolate ice cream pie showing :)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I’m sorry I cannot get around to all of your blogs to wish each one of you a Merry Christmas individually but with so many cyber friends and my slow dial-up it would be nearly impossible.

The Christmas Bird

Birds visiting the feeder on our deck frequently perch in our spruce tree nearby.

I like the background the spruce provides but to capture birds here I must shoot at an angle through a double pane window. The window glass degrades the sharpness some but I like the soft focus effect in this photograph.


To me the male Cardinal with his bright red plumage will always be the Christmas Bird.

Although he doesn’t carry gifts or use a team of reindeer and a sleigh, he does fly around all dressed up like Santa Claus.

Ursula's Tree

Our good friend Ursula had a problem. Her beautiful Canadian Spruce tree, planted beside her driveway, had grown too large. When it was smaller it had enhanced the beauty of her home but now it had grown so large that it was blocking her view as she exited her driveway. At eighty four years of age Ursula no longer could put up with this safety hazard. The tree must come down.

Instead of paying someone to dispose of the tree, Ursula donated it to her town. For this Christmas season it stands proudly in the Greencastle town square for all to enjoy.

National Crane gives Santa a Lift

I wonder how Santa got all of his work done before he had modern conveniences at his disposal.

Santa is shown here topping the tree at the Manitowoc plant in Shady Grove Pa. The Manitowoc Crane Group produces cranes under the Manitowoc, Grove, National, and Potain brands in plants around the world.

Our Christmas Morning

The Mrs. and I spent a quiet Christmas morning together opening our presents. Chad made the morning complete with his phone call. Our quiet time will soon end for many family members will be arriving shortly for an evening of festivities

For all who may be wondering following my last post;

I DIDN’T SNOOP!

Reflections of Christmas Past

With Christmas just around the corner I must take a moment to reflect on Christmas past. We always had everything we needed growing up on our family farm but excess money was not one of our family luxuries. Each Christmas my brother and I would always find that “perfect present” to wish for, usually from the pages of the Sears or Montgomery Wards catalog. Christmas editions were quickly scooped up and swiftly became dog-eared. A little while later, circles drawn in pencil would appear around those items that we felt we could not live past Christmas without. With full knowledge that we could not possibly get everything hoped for, less than veiled hints would be dropped as to the order of importance of the marked items.

Since we spent our days in school, we would not be home when the packages arrived by US Mail. Many evenings after school were spent in activities of which Santa would not approve!

Dad and Granddad were school bus drivers and would arrive home between 5:30 and 6:00 while my brother and I would be home by 4:30. Mom and Grandma would be busy with the evening milking, giving brother and I chance for some quality snooping! Sometimes we would get lucky and find Santa’s stash. The excitement of seeing those boxes was overwhelming. The temptation to sneak a peek would become irresistible. Quickly a plan to explore the packages without leaving a clue would be formulated. We probably were not as good as we thought, although Mom and Dad never left it show, and neither did we! The challenge was to check everything out before the temptations were wrapped in pretty paper. Once wrapped they were as safe as if they had been put in Fort Knox for there was no way we could duplicate Mom’s wrapping job!

In 1962 the present I could no longer live without was a train set. I first found it in one of those delicious Christmas catalogs. I remember finding it hidden under Mom and Dad’s bed one evening. Now this was “Serious Temptation!” This was such an important present there was no way I could be satisfied with just a peek! Oh how carefully I would open the precious package, noting exactly how each part fit into its spot! I would fit the track together carefully and set the locomotive on it followed by the cars! What an amazing sight to behold! Oh how that little train would wiz around the track! A few minutes of pleasure then it would be time to carefully repack being careful to place each part in its place and finally closing the box!

Contrary to the admonishments of our parents “don’t snoop or you’ll ruin Christmas”. Snooping was just as much a part of Christmas as Christmas Morning! The anticipation, the checking all the popular hiding places, the looking for new places, the thrill of finding, and the “Danger” of getting caught were all very important elements of the Total Christmas Experience! And besides, when we Snooped Successfully, we knew that Christmas Morning would not be disappointing in the LEAST!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Did you snoop this year?

Oh Christmas Tree

Evergreen trees are beautiful all decked out in lights and ornaments but the beauty God has endowed them with can hardly be improved upon.

A pine bow hangs in the fog, decorated with droplets of dew.

Two pine cones nestled in the shade.

The browns of the pine cone meld with the greens of the needles and the blues of the sky