covered bridges on christmas eve

Drove into the mountains of New Hampshire yesterday & spied some festive covered bridges.

Merry Christmas!

exeter christmas countryside, redux

Just a few more images captured digitally while driving through Exeter, NH yesterday.

It really is a lovely (old) little town.

By the way ... tonight's forecast:

Freakin' cold, Tex. I didn't realize I was as delicate (aka pathetically whiny in cold temperatures) as I am.

Thank you, cave man, for your discovery of fire.

christmas images from exeter

I'm in New Hampshire for Christmas, visiting my sister and her family. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been away from home (Texas) for Christmas, so this is a new experience for me; but I'm certainly looking forward to a week of soaking up the holiday.

The forecast calls for some potentially nasty weather over the next several days, so I wanted to get out today with my camera and snap some photos while I could!

I wasn't as shutterbug productive as I'd hoped to be (I blame the wine & mussels detour). But I did manage to capture some beauty in Exeter, NH. Most of these were taken at Phillips Church located on the campus of Phillips Exeter Academy. The wreath-adorned door, in particular, spoke to me.

Merry Christmas.

pulled from my current Christmas playlist

On this cold & quiet December 16th, a few non-traditional tunes for Christmas ....

Sarah McLachlan - River




Casting Crowns - I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (Live)




Sarah Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson - Winter Song



(live version of same song, with U.S. Coast Guard Band [for Ty])




Mumford & Sons - Winter Winds




Snow Patrol - You Are My Joy (Live) (a fantastic song that sounds tons better when not live)




Peggy Lee - Little Drummer Boy (music only)




Coldplay - Christmas Lights





KT Tunstall - 2000 Miles (Live) (try to ignore the shenanigans at the beginning of this clip & enjoy one of my favorite Christmas tunes ever)





Andrea Bocelli & Mary J. Blige - What Child is This (Live)




Ingrid Michaelson - Snowfall (Live) - (Again, lousy live; but it's the only version YouTube has [iTunes will do you right])




Diana Krall - White Christmas (music only)

bokeh christmas

Gorgeous.

A simple how-to from Digital Photography School.

the {boot} stockings were hung by the chimney with care ....

Awesome.

From Rocketbuster Handmade & Custom Boots in El Paso, TX:

Rocketbuster Rockin' Stockins are made of 2 layers of heavy calf suede with leather inlay-overlay appliqued on top. Just like our boots, they are 100% handmade in the good ol' US of A. Each stocking measures approximately 17" tall x 13" wide, which is big enough to fit a bottle of wine or lots of good loot. Colors may vary slightly due to availability & dye lots of certain leathers and suedes. Stockings should be stored with tissue in between to assure a long life in any climate.

My favorites:

Christmas Tree

Angels

Corona

Elf

those christmas lights, light up the street

The lights are officially glittering in Historic Downtown Bryan. I've been waiting for an opportunity to practice my shutterbugging in manual mode (specifically, at night); so I grabbed the ol' Canon this quiet Sunday evening and attempted to capture some of their sparkle.