Saturday Snapshots - December 24th - Merry Christmas everyone!

Saturday Snapshots is a meme hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. The rules of the game are:

To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky below. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Personally, I find that this is one of the most fun memes that I've participated in.

With tomorrow being Christmas Day, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Here's hoping the day brings nothing but wonderful surprises for everyone!

And to go with the theme of the day, I've got some winter and Christmas themed photographs to share.

First of all, some icicles from last week's cold snap:

The next two are a bit warmer and cozier - a tabby-cat snuggled under the Christmas tree:

The final photo I'm adding is so that my other cat (Maddie) doesn't get jealous of Jenny.

All of these photos are straight out of the camera with no post-processing, and all taken with my new D7100 - which I'm really enjoying, although quite a few controls are in completely different places from either of my previous cameras. Definitely a bit of a learning curve going on now, and I'm really looking forward to get out and experiment, including with the new lens. Now I just have to wait for the weather to cooperate!

Christmas Watching

There are lots of fine Christmas themed movies out there, but before I get to those, I want to mention one episode of a T.V. show that is one of the best Christmas themed shows I've seen in a long time:

The T.V. show is MacGyver, and the episode in question is The Madonna from Season 5.
The episode blurb from the season is:

A mysterious homeless woman comes to stay at the Challenge Center, and with her pocketful of miracles, ends up teaching MacGyver and the kids the true meaning of Christmas.

The amazon.com blurb:

MacGyver faces a busy Christmas Eve: he tries to help a priest reclaim a stolen Madonna figure, aids Cynthia in keeping the Challenger Club's doors open, and comes to the rescue of a bag lady preyed upon by thieves.

To be honest, I prefer the first blurb, but either way, this is an episode worth watching. I saw it a couple of weeks ago as part of watching the whole series through in order for the first time and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since.

This is also the time of year for Christmas movies, and there are almost too many to count out there. Who can forget the Charlie Brown Christmas though?

That's a family tradition to watch, although I haven't gotten around to it yet this year.

How about A Christmas Carol? There are several versions of this movie out there, almost too many to count, but the most recent is the Disney version.

Another first for me this year was watching The Polar Express. Great music, and a very warming storyline, although I found the red/blue 3D glasses rather disconcerting to use. At least part of that though is that I wear glasses, and so don't really like any of the 3D glasses out there. Even so, it was quite the experience to see a movie at home in 3D - without needing any special technology.

What's your favorite Christmas movie or T.V. show?

What Would You Recommend? - Christmas Books

This is a question I get asked all the time working in the bookstore: "What would you recommend for somebody who loved "_________"? (fill in the blank)" Usually I can come up with something, but that something can be a bit of a wild guess if it's not a book or genre I normally read. This is where you helpful people come in. If you have a suggestion, I'd love to hear it.

In honour of the season, this week I'm asking (a few days late, but nonetheless) what your favourite Christmas books for kids are. I have my favourites, but I'm curious to see what others like too.

Some of the ones I've loved seeing in the store this year are: A Porcupine in a Pine Tree: A Canadian 12 Days Of Christmas by Helaine Becker, Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien (I really do need to remember to reread this one before Christmas) and Dewey's Christmas At The Library by Viki Myron.

Both A Porcupine In A Pine Tree and Dewey's Christmas At The Library are meant for younger kids, but I think anyone would get a chuckle out of the antics in the first book. I know it had me (and half the rest of the staff at work) giggling the first time I read it.


Letters From Father Christmas is one of those books which is great for kids of all ages (including anyone who's only young at heart). The antics of the goblins, Polar Bear etc are amusing, and Tolkien's illustrations for the letters are great.

So, what are your suggestions?