xmas times

My mom came into town on Monday afternoon to spend some quality family time with me before xmas as my job demands me to have no life during the holiday season. My mom is a nurse, so I've been familiar with the "working on holidays" scene my entire life. I've never gotten used to it. Anyway, we got lots of shopping and dining done yesterday and had a bit of a late start today. Fortunately, since my mom is very keen on traditions, we got a little mini-tree late this afternoon. This year in particular that holiday season felt particularly short, so there was a good possibility of us not having a tree, but we got one and I love it. It's a mini little guy... maybe 4 feet tall, which I felt was appropriate since it made placing it on the table in front of our window more possible, plus we'll probably only have it up for a couple of weeks.


I took this with a really tight aperture for about 20 seconds. I love that star burst affect the lights give off.


My mom pointed out that she had seen a very similar ornament to this on someone's blog. I knew immediately where she meant. Apparently Ben has this same ornament in blue (my picture is of the other side of the ornament)



A few more ornaments I have in common with my friends. It must be a parent thing :)



Even though I'm German, we never had a pickle ornament growing up. I grew fond of the "find the pickle" game at Claudia's holiday affairs, so when I saw them on sale last year after Christmas I jumped at the opportunity to let my heritage run wild.


Fun with Bokeh!