And I was SO busy (in a happy way!) yesterday that I didn’t manage to post any photos yesterday. So, here are a few glimpses of our Christmas Day. The cloudy, dark weather wasn’t at all what I ordered for picture-taking purposes, so these are grainier and darker than the usual picture fare here.
Please note: this post is composed almost entirely of pictures, so if you read my blog on dial-up, or you just can’t stand looking at pictures, you will want to go away and come back on Monday.
There’s even a picture of me.
I was opening a bag from Joshua and Lisey, and it was filled with marshmallow Santas. Yum.
This is as close as I could get to a picture of Mr. The Frugal Girl. He’s very camera shy.
After we opened presents, we had Monkey Bread for breakfast, but, um, I forgot to grease the pan. So it was sort of pulled apart when I served it. It was still tasty, though!
This is the mess in my living room, post-present opening.
While my husband and I cleaned up, Sonia and Zoe tried out their new art supplies (which were all purchased at Goodwill).
Do you notice the beautiful bokeh my lens made out of the Christmas tree lights? I love my 50mm lens. It made a flash-free Christmas morning possible.
I hope your Christmas morning was as delightful as ours! I’ll be back with pictures of some of the gifts I made either tomorrow or on Monday. Right now, though, I have a serious mess to clean up in my living room, dining room, and kitchen. Must. Restore. Order.
Battra92
Monday 28th of December 2009
I absolutely love that your son is wearing a shirt with Link on it. The Legend of Zelda series is by far one of the best video game series out there.
It sounds like your Christmas went very well. Mine was wonderful and was the first I spent with my girlfriend. Between us here on TFG, I need to start thinking of how to frugally (not cheaply) get a good ring for the next phase of my life. ;-)
I too can appreciate your the bokeh on your lens. Personally I didn't get the Voigtlander Bessa R2A with a Nokton 50mm f/1.1 that I asked for (I mean, it was only $1,149 for the lens ;-) )
WilliamB
Sunday 27th of December 2009
"Must. Restore. Order."
Made me laugh. I had almost a dozen in my house for close to a week. It was a good week and a lot of fun, and I got to try out many Cook's Illustrated recipes (thus furthering my goal of trying all the recipes I've tagged over the years) with many helping hands doing the dishes for me. Many board games were played - turns out I'm OK as part of team at Scrabble, which I never knew, and did you know that Clue is actually a very complex and subtle logic game? - and I didn't break the bank feeding the crowd. In fact I had fun figuring out how to do that.
But order was not restored till after the crowd had left.
Kristen
Saturday 26th of December 2009
Stephanie, thanks! The red walls are in my bedroom. That's probably the loudest color I've ever chosen! lol
hiptobeme-that's awesome. Go you!
Amy, I haven't tried the 1.8, but from what I hear, it is not nearly as good as the 1.4, so I'm really glad you sprang for the more expensive one. I got mine last Christmas morning, and I was so amazed at how well it worked in low light. I'd never been able to take decent Christmas morning photos before. Have fun playing with your lens!
Amy
Saturday 26th of December 2009
Hey Kristen, I got the 1.4! I was trying to decide between the two and can honestly say that reading your comments about the 1.4 really helped me make my decision. After talking with some friends who are pro photographers, that's what we decided to get. I love it, too. It was so nice to take Christmas morning photos with no flash! (I have two little nephews so it was really important to me to get great shots of them.)
I still have a lot to learn about photography but I enjoy your photos and your tips. So thank you so much for sharing them, along with all the other wonderful lessons I'm learning from your blog.
hiptobeme
Saturday 26th of December 2009
I just got huge props for my goodwill gifting. Not to brag, but the words, "original" and "thoughtful" were used. Yay.