Jaci Dawn

I hope everyone had a decent Christmas. I say “decent” because I know a lot of people who are suffering emotionally and financially right now. Me, I managed to have a much better Christmas than Thanksgiving. I put my dad out of my mind and let the dead be dead. That sounds cold, but I needed to just let it rest. There will be other days to mourn.

We had a pretty low-key Christmas. Not a lot of gifts under the tree for the grandkids and kids (one each plus an ornament). I am pretty big on tradition: the tablecloth, the fine china, the good silver, a sit-down dinner at the big table, the crystal glasses and a lot of food. This year I just bagged it as too stressful: we ate off of the ordinary china with stainless flatware and we used TV trays. I burned the ham and under-cooked the yams and I didn’t have a melt-down over it.

That made it a nice Christmas.

Two of our kids didn’t make it home for Christmas so we shared the day with just Arwen & Sam and Zephan, Javan & Eli. Javan felt puny all day and so is not in a lot of the photos I took of the boys playing with his Christmas presents. Somehow Javan managed to score the most-played-with toys yesterday but all the gifts were well appreciated and on a quieter day, they’ll all be played with.

Every year we try to do a gag gift. This year we put a big bow around the empty shipping box that came filled with toys from Colorado. All that was inside were what we refer to as “air-head refills”. I thought the boys could pop the air-head refills but they (the boys) aren’t heavy enough. But they loved the box that was filled with “imagination”.

Then they opened the real gifts. And the real fun began.

I got Don an awning to attach to the side of his SUV when he goes camping (or we go, as I fully intend to get some camping in next year). I don’t have a photo of it because it in rather unwieldy: the box is seven feet long by six inches by four inches. Son didn’t attempt to attach it to his SUV because… Guess What! … he needs more attachments to the rack before he can. <sigh> But he has the Rhino Rack and that was what was important.

Don got me a new camera. Yep, it is now time for the old Canon EOS Rebel to say good-bye.

The new camera is a Canon Rebel T2i with an additional 75-300 zoom lens. This camera does a lot more than the old one, including taking videos. The photo resolution is much higher and it more closely resembles the old 35mm film cameras I learned on.

I liked the old camera but it lacked some features that I had come to love with film. I have a home already for the old camera: a gifted photographer who has more talent in her pinky than I will ever have. She likes to photograph people and the old camera will benefit her greatly.

Me, I like to sneak up on the birds in our bird feeder and the critters we encounter when we are camping.

I stood in the picture window today and snapped a number of avian candids.

A band-tailed pigeon poses.

Townsend’s warbler.

Yep, I can see this is going to become quite a hobby: Jaci standing in the picture window, aiming a camera lens in the general direction of the new neighbors, and snapping photos of vivacious little birds. I’m a happy camper.

And on that note, my first video is attached here.

And THAT is the aftermath…