Because of all my whining about this new camera my good friend Maddie came over and gave me a few pointers. 
She was oh-so-kind, but I think the error has mostly been in the user. 
After playing around with some settings and reading my manual (I know, I know, some people actually do read their manuals) she then told me to take lots and lots of pictures of the same subject. 
So, if you get tired of seeing things like 5 outhouse pictures, just thank Maddie. I am! 
We live in a very little farming community where nearly everybody is related to you or has known you since banana clips were cool. Most of our neighbors therefor have either babysat our children, borrowed us sugar or some kind of tool, sold us some type of animal food, or helped pull a calf or two in years past. In response to try to show them how much we care for and appreciate them we decided to put together some little home made gift packages for Christmas this year. The kids helped me bake some homemade cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting and some chocolate chip cookies and Rob and Trent delivered them.
We also included some of our homemade goats milk soap.
To finish it all off Alexis helped me make up some little cards out of 3x5 note cards, a simple computer program, and some extra red checked material. 
On one side we wrote a little Merry Christmas note. 
On the other side we included the recipe for the cookies.
What would an American holiday be without all the good food? Mmmmm~mmmmmm! I sure ate my share of it! 
Our homemade Christmas this year went over very well. What started with a few groans from a few family members and in the end made everybody think more of the other people in the household during this festive season rather than themselves turned into what may just become a new family tradition. It was so much fun watching everybody open up their gifts! And to watch the joy of the person who made that gift was as much fun to watch. We had a couple of sick kids so decided not to go to the candle light church service. Rather we got out the hymn books at home and sang a few hymns and carols, then Rob read the Christmas story to us and thanked God for the gifts we were able to exchange this year. 
Grace made everybody new pillowcases. To surprise her I made her a new pillowcase for one of her gifts and everyone got a (store bought) new pillow.
Trent made lead ropes for the girls out of old T-shirts. One of these days I will do a little tutorial on how he made them because I need to make quite a few for myself, too. So until I get around to it don't throw away all those old, stained T-shirts.
Micah loved his block puzzle! Cole also made him a block set so he had lots of blocks to build many towers with.
For Alexis I finally finished her bridle holder. Trent also made her a lead rope.
And the grande~finalle that he had been waiting for her to open for several weeks, in honor of her obsession with all things Narnia, currently The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.......
A replica Dawn treader ship that Trent carved and created himself. The kids went way above and beyond my expectations (again) to bless each other. 
One of my (several) favorite presents~ a gift certificate from Rob for 8 hours of labor on any project I choose..... hmmmmm.... what shall it be, what shall it be???? Some trim work; finish the bathroom; the stairwell or an upstairs bathroom???? It does come with a 90 day expiration date~ I think he knew I would want a front porch started if he let me wait too long to decide. Hope yours was a Merry Christmas too!
Luke 2 ~ The Birth of Jesus 
I have a feeling that Trouble may not ever make it out to the barn to live up to her potential of becoming a great guardian goat dog without some serious intervention. She has become a bit spoiled around here. 
I think it has something to do with those sweet little baby blue eyes, and that little baby growl and bark, and her chubby little short legs and fluffy fur. 
There's also the fact that she was only 3 days old when she came home and we are all still just thrilled that she is alive and thriving.
It has caused certain people in the household to cater to her every need and hold her at every waking (and sleeping) moment and teach her how to play the piano.
Because we all know how important it is to know how to play the piano to scare away all those big scary coyotes. Cute little bugger. Both of 'em. 
Micah's homemade Christmas presents to the other kids (and himself) was modeling clay. It comes from an age-old recipe of Grandma Lee's that she used to make for us girls when we were little and has proven to bring great joy to our children (and many others) as well throughout the years. We mixed up the few ingredients then added food coloring~ making 5 different colors. 
We quickly found out that a fork was not going to work to mix it together so we had to use our hands.
Something that Micah was thrilled to do!
Next we rolled them into balls, put them into ziplock bags.
It was almost a Christmas without a Christmas tree this year. Since we moved to the farm we happened upon a fun little tradition that we may never be able to escape from. One thing that our land has plenty of is pine trees. The farm had sat for nearly twenty years before we bought it with no farm work being done~ lots and lots of pine trees sprang up in that time. The tradition to cut our own Christmas tree started the first year we moved here when the kids and I took the new goats out for a walk and thought it would be fun to cut our own tree. The trees are the classic Charlie Brown Christmas trees, but it's the memories that count. 
We have had various modes of transportation to get the trees home. One year we used the snowmobile to pull several kids and a tree behind. There was a lot of laughing that year! Last year we enjoyed using the horses to haul it up (check it out here). This year there has been one thing after another (snowstorms, busyness in general, work) that has gotten in the way of getting out with Rob to cut down a tree. Finally the other night the kids and I headed out back in the dark in the search of the perfect tree. There were tall trees. 
And short trees. 
Last year Rob had to cut off several feet of the top of the tree just to get it in the door so we went with a little bit smaller tree this year. 
Of course in the dark it looked a little better than when we got it into the living room. 
We hauled out the decorations anyway and tried to spruce it up a bit. All the while laughing at the goofy looking thing!
Martha Stewart I am not! 
I think next year we are adding a Christmas tree plot to The List.
