Sunset on the last day of the year. The grass glittered with dewdrops as the sun colored the sky and dropped behind the trees.

Down at the neighbor's pond, the water was so still, reflecting the trees.

 Time to take the tree down! We put it up a bit earlier than usual, and these poor Charlie Brown trees don't last very long anyway! So I filled the table with all of the ornaments that were on the tree.

Doesn't seem like that much, does it? And I never really noticed how they're mostly red and white. And gold and wooden.

This is most of the little ornaments that Cris has made for me over the years - not shown are plenty of large Santas and Angels and Fairies. I love them!

I love this website! She keeps track of all of the web-based photo printing businesses, and also lists all of the sales and special deals they have. It has been a great aid to my photo-booking!

For the end of the year, she is having a Giveaway, so go to her site and enter to win!

http://www.photobookgirl.com/blog/blurb-365-project-giveaway-100-prizes-the-last-push-for-2012

Cory and I went to Bellevue to see an opera rehearsal - this is the view from the ferry as we were leaving the island at 5:00pm. The moon was almost full, and the water was smooth as glass, reflecting the lights of Everett and the moon trail.

Photos were not allowed in the theatre, so this is the best I could do. One of Cory's friends is a ballerina and got us half-priced tickets. It was interesting to see the full dress rehearsal - they only had to stop twice. We really enjoyed it!

Christmas cookies!

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2012

 Christmas Day dinner of French Toast and Ham. Cory, Jon, Sharon and me. The rest of Sharon's family was having dinner with the ex's family. She spent most of the day with them, and will have her dinner tomorrow.

The ghost of christmas dinner! The camera's timer was faster than I was!

 I didn't get a sunrise photo at the Solstice, but this is only 3 days afterwards, so it's close enough to show how far south the sun rises at this time. Add in the mist and sunrays - lovely!

 The deodora tree was resplendent in leftover raindrops, sparkling in the fleeting sunlight.

Also fleeting is the life of these tiny insects attracted to the sunrays. I wonder where they go when it starts raining again?

 These are christmas gifts that Russ and Blair made for me! They used large white conch shells and added lights. I have set them on a mirror atop a table in my entry, and they are just amazing after dark!

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2012

 More candle and tree lights! I'm having fun with this series of photos!

Well, we are all here. The doom that was forecast hasn't materialized. And today, the winter solstice, we celebrate the return of the light to the world. It's a time for new beginnings, and a time to let go of the old.

Peace and Light to all of you!

Did I mention the rain? After the snow, it dumped buckets all day long, and then again the next day. This is a photo of where the culvert goes under our driveway. There are two 12" diameter culvert pipes under there, and they are flowing beyond capacity. Thankfully the rain has stopped, so the water level is stable, and should begin to drop. The drainage system is working well, but it does have its limits, and we're right there. But it sure was nice to see a bit of blue sky today.

And this evening Cory and I went to Everett for some shopping and visiting, and got to see the Hobbit in 3-D! It was all good.

Another quasi-snow storm this morning. It was coming down so fast - I tried to capture the reflection of the christmas tree in the window superimposed over the green fir trees. Maybe not successful in that respect, but an interesting photo regardless.

It snowed like this for a few hours, then turned back to rain - a lot of it!

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2012

 The tree is all decorated with bright lights and fun ornaments. I enjoy turning off the lights and just looking.

Interesting weather day. Snow was forecast, but we didn't get anything but rain. And even that stopped, and we had just clouds. Later on, from this viewpoint, I could see a rainshower approaching the south end of the Island, just in front of the edge of the storm.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2012

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2012

Art group had a gift exchange yesterday, and among the fun things were a couple of ornaments. Above, Danielle made these fun little finger puppet/ornaments - he looks quite angry, but is actually in a good mood.

And Carol gave us each a beautiful star ornament, from a Fair Trade establishment. Mine has peacock-colored sparkles.

Game night at Sally's degraded into our second annual Graham Cracker House session.

 Some of us were less inspired than others. But we had a table full of goodies, 

 and it is always fun to see how creative everyone is!

All of this rain means a bumper crop of mushrooms - these opportunists were pushing up through the leaves right on the side of the driveway.

 And yet more rain! The hops vine is all brown and dried up, but the papery blossoms hold raindrops well!

 The end of one of the vines arcs up to meet the round spool it is growing on.

Another tendril hangs down and holds water.

 Rain, wet, gray. The patterns of our days this month! And, of course, every winter. Well, it gives me the chance to get my water drop photos!

This is one of Greg's bonsai trees, and you can't see it very well, but most of the branches are adorned with raindrops.

Got another birthday gift today! Cris spun and wove and sewed this lovely fairy pouch, and tucked Lucy inside! She is an antique dollbaby made in Japan. Cris made her little dress, too. What a fun gift!

I made a fun gift project from my stash! I am always happy to use up some of my supplies, and be able to create things without needing to go and buy something. (Of course, buying supplies is always fun, too!)

 Anyway, this was inspired by the book our book club read this month, "LovingKindness", about some of the practices of Buddhism and meditation to help achieve a happy life. The cards are some of my photos with images that leant themselves to being cut in half, making them the perfect size!

On the back is one of the four metta phrases used during meditation described in the book, and I felt that even if we don't meditate regularly, it would be good to be able to look through the cards and be refreshed with the images and thoughts. The pouch is a heavy handmade paper I had in my drawer, and it took the stitching well, then I used a rubber stamp to print the fern. I was happy with the results, and the gals were very pleased, too!

 Our first snow of the year - almost! It was actually a lot of hail, but it was cold and white and slippery, so it qualifies as snow.

 The bright yellow of the willow leaves is slipping away, too.

But in the house we have the sparkling lights on the Christmas tree!

Here are the proud new owners of the little house I pictured a couple of days ago. Mike and Laurel.

 Not exactly your typical Christmas tree cutting adventure! Our trees are so tall, we have to look at the tops. The forest needs thinning anyway, as you can tell by all the skinny tree trunks in this area.

 So, after making a decision, with just a few well-aimed whacks with his machete, Cory has the tree down, and cut off the top.

 Cara carries the prize as Cory cuts a path through the brambles.

And then we're on the trail back to the house - tis the season!

 Finally a day breaks and it's not raining! Well, it did rain all night, but is dawning clear this morning. I am determined to get out walking every day, since I have been so lax lately. It's the first time I've been in the woods around sunrise for a long, long time. So I got lots of photos to try and make up for last week's lean-ness. Above is a twisted birch near the edge of the swamp, where the light is beginning to shine through.

A fallen tree cleared a path through the woods to the rising sun.

Still plenty of drips and drops - above, the brightening sky colors the refractions in the drop.

 A continuous splattering in the swamp waters.

 Another drop and the sun rising over the treeline.

And finally, one of my behemoth cedar trees - if you can see the sun on it's top, that is how much it sticks out of the surrounding forest. It is massive, the biggest one of several down in the swamp bottom of the woods. It had a neighbor on the right which toppled several years ago. The root systems are wide and shallow in this area, and the fallen giant still lives and is growing, with a root ball rising 15' above the ground, but still is connected enough to provide sustenance. I created a little trail connected each of these wonderful trees.