27 Days of Christmas Photos- 2010

The photos are from last christmas I gave you my heart but the very....opps, wrong time to sing.
Yes, this was 2010. A first Christmas in La Center, WA. Although, it is fake, from a distance, the totally fake christmas tree looks nice. It just does not smell nice or look nice up close. I just can't handle the fake stuff.

My niece's smile here is priceless.

27 Days of Christmas- 2009

Yesteryear was just two short years ago. Both photos are of my niece. The first is of Aria eating a nice glittery ornament. 

The second is of Aria in the Christmas outfit I purchased for her. I always find the cutest stuff at Goodwill. This year, however, I kinda struck out on that front.

Things to do in Early Morning

What can you do when you wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep. When you look at the clock and its 1:18AM, and then again around 2:45 and then again at 3:10 and 3:33. When you cannot sleep on Christmas Eve, because you are too excited and can't wait, there are many things to do to kill the time.

*Get online and surf the net
-Check out those new advertisements online to see what deals stores have going on

*go stare at the Christmas tree with all the lights illuminating the whole room
Its peaceful to just sit out there in complete silence and take it all in; The sights, the sounds (or lack of sounds), the feelings... all that.

*Carefully open the presents that are yours, just enough to peek at what they are, so you know, and can choose the right ones to open at the right time.

(this used to be a procedure, but I don't do it much anymore)

*Turn on the TV and watch A Christmas Story
You're bound to catch it right in the middle of the movie, but just watching from the middle to the middle. Every year TBS shows 24 hours of a Christmas Story, all the way through the day and night. I always seem to catch it right when Ralphie goes to see Santa and gets a boot in the face.

*Read the REAL Christmas Story (even though you will read it again with everyone when they all finally get up. It's mostly in Matthew and Luke

*Write a blog posting around 4 in the morning about what types of things you could do to keep yourself busy.

*Think about all the stuff you get to do in a few short hours.

*Read a Christmas book.
The children's books are the best because they are short and you can knock em out quickly. One of my favorites to read each year is Barbra Robbinson's "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". Ya gotta love those Herdmans... "Hey, Unto you a child is born"

*Go in the Hot Tub and look at the stars (too bad the stars are covered by clouds this morning)

*Make your list of things to bring on the trip, (just to make sure you don't forget anything)

*Go for an early morning walk with the dog- be sure to bring a flashlight




*ENJOY THE FESTIVE SEASON AND ALWAYS REMEMBER THE REASON

White Christmas and its memories

As I am watching White Christmas I am instantly brought back to all those years of watching the film with my family and automatically think of all those comments my mother says every time she watches:

She's so skinny....
Oh... his grey socks and shoes.....
Mutual Im sure...
Well, how do you like that, with not so much as a kiss my foot or have an apple....
Her waist is so tiny.....

Funny how those things stick in your head year after year.

27 Days of Christmas Photos- 2008

Take that family you read about yesterday, the one that was super loud with lots of relatives and many conversations going on at one time seated at the extra long, but not long enough, table, eating crescents. Now add in a Gorilla. Now, you have a clearer picture of my mother's side of my extended family. 

Each year during this breakfast around christmastime, my Uncle disappears to put on a gorilla suit and jumps down to scare us all. This has been known for years as the Gorilla Breakfast. When we were younger (my sisters and cousins and all) were of course scared, and then later on, we just laughed and laughed. One year, my cousin my age, Brian, and I decided we would go in search of the Gorilla to find that elusive creature. Before my Uncle got a chance to put on the costume, we got into it and brought it down. 

Years later, even when there were no kids, Uncle Andy still got in that costume.

Now, add to that family image, a grandfather who sleeps through all of this. During the talking family time, he finds a seat and sleeps through it all. WOW.

Skating in a NON-Winter Wonderland

I have had such a great time with the brand new Ice Skating Rink in Downtown Redmond. It is a great place to have some fun at a great price. I love the economic part to it as well. There are free skate times when there is no attendant for renting skates and so it is close to empty for those of us that have skates ourselves. (I picked up some skates at a great price at Big 5) If I were to go skating at 7th Mountain Resort with renting the skates, it would take THREE times to make up for getting my own. Here in Redmond the prices are much better. The entrance is $1 and then $3 for renting skates so that makes a total of $4 if you need to rent skates. Such a deal.

I really like that I can skate for free in the mornings though. It is a removable rink as well, so that is a nice feature so in the summer, the space can be available for other uses.

27 Days of Christmas Photos- 2007

Imagine if you will, an extended family that loves to talk. A family that gets together but once and year and wants to catch up on every single thing that happened the whole year. A family that is anywhere from 20-35 people all in one house, all in one super-long(but not long enough) table sitting together and eating a yummy Crescent breakfast. A family where its members talk from one side of the table to the other and one end of the super-long table to the other. Imagine 5 or more conversations happening at the same time. Now, DOUBLE THAT!

That is my extended family.

27 Days of Christmas Photos - 2006

The year I got my new camera lens was in 2006. It is quite obvious isn't it? But, I still like this first picture of the presents basket.

27 Days of Christmas Photos-2005

I have three photos from 2005 today.

The first is my mother standing next to the REAL Christmas tree, holding their very first "couple" ornaments. They are two styrofoam balls with sequins that say MK and CH (the parents initials) when mom and dad were engaged. These two ornaments have been through a lot, but are still put up every year, usually in the back now because they are in such shape.

The next photo is of my Uncle Andy. As I have put another photo of him in this look back, he is wearing a bow ontop his head, as traditional.

And the last photo is of Christmas Eve traditions, reading the Christmas Story and having a Candlelight service, and NO Pillsbury's, dad did NOT look like Hitler while leading it.

27 Days of Christmas Photos- 2004

The recent year was 2005 and we are getting extremely close to Christmas. Just 5 more days(as of today- I am posting a day late), la la la, we can hardly wait, la la la

I got burned out on the today photo thing, I am just not finding anything else, so it may be just Yesteryear photos for the last bit, but we shall see.

27 Days of Christmas Photos- 2003

 This is the perfect picture (from 2003) because it is of family and friends Ice Skating. In 2003 on Christmas Day, my family went Ice Skating and we dragged along my friend, Jamie. It was certainly fun. We had a great time. The Ice Skating was located outside of Bend at the 7th Moutain Resort.
It is perfect, because yesterday was the opening day for the new Ice Rink in Redmond. It was just installed and I can't wait to try it out. I got my skates, and I am ready to go. The awesome thing is the price. It is super cheap. There are free skating times (if you have your own skates) and when you pay for admission its just $1. The skates rental is just $3.
At the 7th Mountain the entrance fee is $8. and the skate rental is $6. What a different huh?

After a nice day of Skating, what is better than sitting by a Fireplace? That is today's photo- the Fireplace from my church lobby.

27 Days of Christmas Photos- 2002

The year is my graduation year from HS.  And it seems I was too busy to get my picture taken during Christmas. This photo was not from 2002, but very similar to one that could have been taken in 2002.

I certainly wish that this photo was from today- to have that much snow on the ground. Sadly, we have NO SNOW whatsoever in Redmond. I really like to have snow right before Christmas. It happens often in Central Oregon, but I doubt it will happen this year.

27 Days of Christmas- 2001

The first year my grandmother was connected was 2001. She loves to tell the story of how we arrived at her house and I took all the components of her new (to her) computer to their guest room. She assumed it was mine that I brought for entertainment, but it really was her gift from our family. She was (and is still) a little bit weary of the computer, but has gained some knowledge of things pertaining to the computer.

The picture from today is of the set for the Santaland Diaries, at ITW.

27 Days of Christmas Photos- 2000

 So the picture from yesteryear is actually of my sisters. They will probably hate me for posting this picture of them in their Pleather stuff they got in 2000 from our Aunt, but thats alright. I can take em. A brother is born for adversity anyways so....

And the second photo is not from today (sadly,  I am running out of photos to take to make it interesting so I am resorting more recent years) but it is from last year and of my adorable niece.

27 Days of Christmas Photos- 1999

 The year, 1999. I was a freshman in High School. I was known all around as "The Kirkman's little brother", or better yet "the Twins' little brother" It is fun to look at that first picture and see my CD collection- about 12 CDs or so, now I shudder to think at how many CDs I have.

Today's photo is of Christmas Cards and gifts. I enjoy cards, but sadly do not sent them out myself. My family has never really worked at sending out Christmas Cards. We have, in the past, sent out "Update Letters" that let everyone know how the family is doing, but not quite the Christmas Card idea.

27 Days of Christmas Photos- 1998

The year was 1998 and I was in 8th grade. I was so happy to get my BOB the Tomato shirt. What a great Christmas.

Today's Photo is of Fudge. I had fun making fudge last week and it reminds me of when mom would make it. I always have to add peppermint extract. One year, when I was living with a professional chef, I took his advice to just buy a mint chocolate bar. After trying it, I did NOT agree. The extract works so much better AND it was much cheaper than buying that fancy mint bar to melt down.

27 Days of Christmas Photos- 1997

Wow, have I gotten behind. I have had multiple days of long days. It has been good because I have had a full-day job, but a lot of driving back and forth to Bend, not as fun.

So here is year 1997. I was in 7th grade. This was the second year that we were at our new house on the west side of Redmond. I did not have a picture from 1997 so here is one that I like from the past year.

 As for the day's photo, I did not take any on Monday- (My bad) so I am using one from last year.

27 Days of Christmas Photos- 1996 (sort of)

Sadly, as hard as I tried, I could not find a picture of the past for every year at Christmas. The parents must have been slacking in 1996 and 1997 because I was not able to find any pics.

So, because I NEED a picture- this evenings token old photo is of my mother's Christmas houses and figurines. She has way too many to count. Boxes and boxes of em. I really liked this photo I took a few years ago of some carolers and houses in the background.

Today's pictures are fun because we had our College group 2nd Annual Christmas Party. It was pretty much amazing. The tritip was among the best I have ever tasted and other sides and such were great. I missed out on timing and so I had my Green Bean Casserole cooking when we were all going through the line so not many got to taste the genius.

the gentlemen cutting up the amazing AND PLENTIFUL Tritip.

Tom looks like an Albino here, I think that is why I like the pic.

27 Days of Christmas Photos-1995

The yearly photo of the day is 1995. Honestly, I cannot tell if this is 1995 or not because dad wore this suit every christmas in the earlier years. It was certainly a fun tradition. But... because I did not have a specific photo for 95, this is in its place. Enjoy.

As for today's photo. I had a great day of Christmas. First off, I worked on getting Christmas decorations ready for my HUB party tomorrow by creating Christmas Character cards and listening to Christmas music. Then I went off to a Christmas Movie Extravaganza from 3-9. I also sang Christmas carols from 6 (15opps)- 7. Yes, I was late for singing and I hate that when I loose track of time and am late for something. I was certainly speeding to get there. And then more Christmas movies at a friend's house. 

Today's Photo is of her father's Coke collection (and the remains of our snacking foods)

How many times did I write Christmas in this post? you may ask... well 9 (including this sentence) Which makes it an even 10 if you count the title. How nice to have a nice round number.

27 Days of Christmas- 1994

The year is 1994. I was in 4th grade. I had amazing style too with my muscle pants. I really miss our old house on 9th street with the wonderful massive windows.

Today I got the enjoyment of watching a Christmas Production with some friends in it. It was a great time. 

27 Days of Christmas- 1993

 1992 is the year. Christmas was awesome that year because I got the Mickey Mouse sweater.
We also had some good snow that year it seems to be able to make a horse/dog/whateveritis.

A Christmas Story is a great classic of Christmas. SO many memories from it. 
"You'll shoot your eye out" "Ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra" "The amazing flag pole tongue incident. One time ice skating with HSers, one smart kid decided that he would try the tongue on metal to see if it would work,... it did. Smart, I know.

27 Days of Christmas-1992

The year was 1992 (I think) and the morning was Christmas Morning. Such a great time. Most likely I stayed up all night from being way too excited for Christmas.

The Christmas photo from today (last night actually since I missed my deadline.) was of my church First Wednesday service- all decked in Christmas garb.

 

27 Days of Christmas Photos- 1991

 The past year today is 1991- I was in Second Grade. Oh you know I loved my Sweater Vests. And GI Joe was Da Bomb.

 Today's photo was actually taken today. Pixar and I walked down to the Reindeer Ranch which according to Google Maps is .8 miles from my house. Pixar must not have seen the reindeer, because he was just chillin' while I was taking my pictures, but on the way there and the way back he had fun barking and be scared of the horses that were moving around.

27 Days of Christmas Photos- 1990

 The Blast from the Past for today is 1990

I had an awesome Bathrobe.









Dad is a classy guy. He has always been someone I look up to and try to emulate.













At Grandma's, we got to be a live nativity. That would be from left to right:
Me(always the shepherd, never the Joseph), my cousin, Karina (Mary), A Cabbage Patch Kid (Jesus), Kelli (Joseph?), Kristin (a wise dude), and by cousin, Bryan (another shepherd)

Then, a sister getting a present on Christmas.














I cheated today and did not take a photo, but am using one from this year at least- it was the UCut tree farm that I got my beauty from- La Center Farms.