Wednesday, December 07, 2011

New Header and the Christmas Tree

Check out my snazzy custom header by the lovely Angie of Tiny Owl Designs, founder of Catholic Mothers Online.  She even made me a matching button over on the side-bar.  Merry Christmas to me!

Speaking of Christmas, we got our tree on Saturday.  There's a sweet old German man with his own small tree farm a few streets down from us so we went back again this year and chose our tree from his adorable selection.  I love being able to walk with the kids through the snow and pick out a tree that wasn't cut down 3 weeks ago.
Back in California, we had to pick our tree out of some piles in the parking lot of Lowe's.  It was not very romantic or exciting, I assure you.  Getting a tree in Michigan is a whole lot different...


watching Mr. Paul cut down our tree
I also attempted to take photos of our decorated Christmas tree, with terrible results.  As usual.  Apparently you truly have to have a real camera in order to achieve acceptable images.  But because I don't, you'll have to choose between dark 'n' blurry....


and bright 'n' stark....


It looks way better in person, I swear!

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28 comments :

  1. Love, love, love the Header. Its so very you. The Christmas tree looks great!!

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  2. Love the new header! The tree is beautiful and I heart the pics from the tree farm, so cute!

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  3. Very jealous of the snow. That makes picking out a tree so much more Christmassy. It was 65 degrees here when we got ours.
    Also - lovin' the new blog design. Very sunshiny and fresh.

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  4. We have a fake tree. The temptation of a real tree is too much for our dog :) This time of year is especially hard in California. It just really doesn't feel much like Christmas. Last year it was 80 degrees on Christmas day. We all wore shorts, and the kids played basketball. I must confess that I went in my room and had a good cry :(

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  5. Try this: When taking the picture of the tree without the flash (which is what I'm guessing the first tree shot is), use a table to stabilize the camera. What's happening, is in order to get enough light to capture an image, the shutter has to stay open for longer than it does with the flash (which is what I'm guessing the second tree shot is). But the longer the shutter stays open, the more it picks up on any and all minute movements you're making while holding the camera.

    So, barring hauling out a tripod and setting the timer, just drag a chair or something in front of the tree, and set the camera on that. It should cut down on a lot of the blurriness.

    Or you could just say that you've got yourself a newfangled "dancing tree", and that's what's causing the blurriness.

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  6. That's an awesome way to get a tree. We're hoping to do that too.

    Love the new header. It's totally rad!

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  7. love the new header!
    we are treking out to the fields this weekend to chop down our tree. Can't wait! yours looks beautiful: either way. I don't think a christmas tree can really look bad at all.

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  8. Looks great! Both the blog and the tree.

    Great thing, picking out and chopping down your own Christmas tree. Excellent memory maker. You are fantastic parents.

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  9. Oh my gosh that second pic of your little girl cracked me up! She is SO cute!!!
    Lovely tree and your header is awesome!

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  10. I always get jealous of mom blogs with their fancily designed blogs, and nice matching themed everything, and blog links and groups and yeah.

    It looks awesome, is what I am trying to say. :)

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  11. What can I say, Joe- I'm just a fancy pants these days!

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  12. My husband had the brilliant idea years ago of getting a little potted, live pine tree--they're usually about two, three feet tall, tops--for our Christmas tree. After Epiphany, we plant it in the yard.

    Bonuses: no dead tree to throw out or chop into kindling afterwards, or a fake tree to put back in the attic. Also, it's small enough the kids can decorate it on their own while I sit back and sip my eggnog. And we have a visual record of how many Christmases we've had in this house. Is very cool.

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  13. Well look at you and your fancy new header! :) Your tree looks lovely!

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  14. Cute pics!:) We always have a fake one. I always think of how fun it would be to cut down a real one.
    And your new header look great!

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  15. Love your new header!!

    And your Christmas tree is awesome.

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  16. Oooh! Fancy new blog decorating! Love your tree, Dweej. We're using the same old same old artificial one. I like Karen's idea of a potted tree that you plant in the yard. I think we will do that next year!

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  17. The tree is lovely. Stop putting it down!

    The header is the coolest!

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  18. Love your new design, Dweej! It's so happy and very you :)
    Picking out Christmas trees in the snow is awesome. Hope you're feeling better!

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  19. I love love LOVE your blog's new look! I am grabbing your new button now. :o) Also, your tree looks beautiful. :o)

    Jamie
    For Love of Cupcakes

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  20. Love the new header and the button! Too cute. And I agree that you should try to photo the tree by NOT holding the camera. Prop it on something stable and that should work better. I love live trees. We haven't cut our own in years, but we do go to a tree farm instead of Lowe's.

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  21. Love the new blog design. Someday...

    A friend of ours, for years, invited families to come and cut trees from his patch. Not a Christmas tree farm. Just a patch. He moved. Now we get our tree at a local garden store. Not as much fun, but...

    You've started a wonderful tradition that I'm sure your kids will always cherist.

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  22. I so miss the days when we would go with a bunch of friends on a 2 hour trip up to Stockbridge, Mass.(right past the church where Arlo Guthrie wrote "Alice's Restaurant") and our favorite tree farm. Kids were all small, ran through acres of trees, screaming and yelling that every tree was "the one!".

    The hubs still moans that the trees were the inexpensive part...$20/25 but, breakfast, lunch, antique store stops, candy store stops and gas...made for a pricey trip.

    All that really counts is that our grown kids look back at some wonderful memories and yours will as well!

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  23. The first thing I thought when I clicked over was how cute that header is! We've cut our own trees in the past but never in the snow. Kind of hard to do down here. The last time we did it the tree was pollinating and we all had horrible reactions. We stuck it out, though not until the Epiphany like normal.

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  24. So pretty! The kiddos are looking so big, esp Cece! Love the new header btw. It looks perfect on here!

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  25. Such a lovely re-design! I love it! And that is seriously a picture-perfect Christmas tree getting expedition!

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  26. Thanks so much for the header/button compliments! :) It was fun to work together and I'm glad it all came together the way it did.

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