Let the Light Shine: December 2010

Friday, December 31, 2010

Top 10 Photos

I had the chance to do a few photo shoots this year. It was hard to choose, but here are a few of my favorite shots from 2010:

And many, many thanks to everyone who allowed me to capture their special memories this year. I had a blast!

2010…you can go at any time. Well, in 12 hours you’ll be gone for good. I have to say that the first half wasn’t all too bad. But the second half…we could have done without. I’m so glad to be entering a new year, one that is fresh and full of promises and possibilities. Welcome, 2011.

Here are my top 10 memories/moments from 2010…

1. Emmy’s first birthday!!

2. Graduating from Liberty University with a Bachelor in Religion!! Glad to have all that hard work behind me!

3. Trip to the Columbus Zoo – both of them!

4. Best Thanksgiving ever!!

5. My 31st birthday – photo shoot w/ Miss Katy around town for Homecoming.

6. Building for the first times – end tables in July and Emmy’s easel & baby bed in December.

7. Completing my first quilt – for Emmy Jo’s first birthday

8. Just spending time with Emmy Jo and watching her grow from a little baby to a little person with her own personality.

9. Reading for fun…may sound stupid, but after reading textbooks and journal articles for nearly two years straight, it was wonderful to be able to read just to read…and I’m glad I tackled the Twilight series.

10. Gardening…it was fun planting, harvesting & canning…hard work, but fun. Oh, and yummy!! Can’t wait to try again in 2011. Grandpa Jim has already enlarged our garden plot.

Well, there you go. That’s how I’m going to remember the good stuff of 2010. What’s your favorite memory/moment?

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

O Christmas Tree – My 1st Linky Party

Here is my Christmas tree. It’s not designer-inspired. It doesn’t have a real theme. The dominant colors are red & silver.

What I love most about my Christmas tree is the ornaments. I love putting them on every year. Most of the ornaments have some sort of meaning attached…either of the person who gave it to me or a moment the ornament was purchased to remember. One of these days I’m actually going to make an ornament scrapbook so I can document about the ornaments I have and any future ornaments I receive. Here’s a few of my favorites:

This ornament refused to be photographed correctly, but I had to include it. In high school, Mom started buying us girls ornaments every Christmas that representing something from that year. This one is from 1997…my freshman year of college at Ohio State. I love getting my mail every day so she got me this really cute “Letters to Santa” ornament to remind me of my time away from home and all the lovely cards & letters I got (yes, people still wrote letters back then…I have an old makeup suitcase full of them for proof).

I received this ornament from Ashley, a lovely little girl I had in my preschool class a few years ago. Of course, I can’t hang it up without thinking of the movie “Flicka”. It was Ashley’s favorite and we watched it several times during that school year.

I got this *NSYNC ornament in 2001. Yep, I was a boy band fan. In 2001, I went to three concerts…98 Degrees in March, *NSYNC in June and Backstreet Boys in September. Tina went with me to all of them and Jen went to *NSYNC and BSB with us. This ornament plays one of their Christmas songs. Emmy likes to dance to it with me this year.

The ornament for 1996…the year we got our first dog, a Keeshond named Toby. I miss that dog :(

My first Christmas as an aunt…Emmy Jo got us all ornaments last year. Apparently, Jo Jo is the World’s Best Aunt.

My dad was a volunteer firefighter. My dad loved Christmas. My dad just happened to die 12 days before Christmas while fighting a barn fire. So ever since there have been firemen and fire Santa Clauses and fire Snowmen (a little ironic, I know) on our tree to honor him. I bought a ton of these ornaments at The Christmas Mouse store in Virginia Beach. This is just one of the handful that are hanging on my tree this year.

This is one of the many ornaments I bought at The Christmas Mouse in VB in 2000. I bought several of these and gave to Dad’s brother & sister and us kids. I put the picture I took of him at the Prom Promise Mock Accident in it.

This is a cool ornament from this year. Bean & I each bought on on our trip to the Flower Factory in November. It’s all bumpy and I love it!

2002’s ornament from Mom. Bean & I bought our childhood home from our mom when she moved across the street with her new family…lol.

I got this Brutus Buckeye ornament at The Christmas Mouse in Nags Head on North Carolina’s Outer Banks in 2008. On one trip down there, a radio DJ joked that there were more Ohio license plates in the summer than North Carolina ones. Go Bucks!

I’ve got several of these ornaments I made on the tree in varying sizes. I just stuffed red & silver filler down inside. I love how the lights shine off of these. If you can get the ornaments on sale, it is a pretty cheap way to add color to your tree.

New garland I ordered from Kohl’s on Thanksgiving Day- very, very early on Thanksgiving Day. I was less than impressed with the quality, but they look nice on the tree. I inherited the two sets of silver & red beads my parents put on the tree, but it was so hard to get both strands to look nice. Last year we did without anything. So, I think these work.

Just some lights…I’m loving these!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my tree! I love sitting at night in my living room watching a Christmas movie on the Hallmark Channel or ABC Family with only the lights of the tree.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Remembering Dad

Today is the 11th anniversary of my dad’s departure from this earth. It was unexpected, completely shocking and as sudden as, well, as sudden can be, I guess. I plan on writing later this week about his passing, but I wanted to focus today on his life. I don’t have many pictures on my laptop, but the ones I do have of him are perfect for how I remember him…as Dad.

One of my favorite pictures. This was the day they brought my sister home from the hospital. We definitely got our love of naps from Dad!

March 1981

Here we are in Cincinnati after a Reds game, probably about 1987.

Here we are in Myrtle Beach, probably about 1985. Grandpa Birkhimer, Mom, us girls, Grandma Birkhimer, Justin & Dad.

We spent many vacations in Myrtle Beach. Dad actually said he wanted to retire there. Of course, he would never have moved away from his family (:

Dad, Justin & Bean in our backyard on 9th Street. This must have been about 1985. I can remember bits and pieces about making this snowman and taking these pictures. You can’t tell, but Mr. Snowman is sporting a GE hat…lol.