Snow Tubing

Some people spend Christmas indoors in front of the fireplace, cozy and warm. Other people spend Christmas outdoors on the side of a mountain, cold and freezing...because they're snow tubing!


This year, after a yummy dinner and games with extended family we bundled up in scarves, boots, gloves, hats, and big coats; squeezed ourselves into the SUV and headed out to Liberty Mountain Resort in Carroll Valley, PA. Most of us had never gone snow tubing before so I thought it would be a fun Christmas present for my family.

Once at the ski resort, we hopped into a shuttle bus and arrived at the snow tubing location on the side of the mountain. They issue you a pass and snow tube once you sign a waiver you won't sue the place if you break both legs and an arm. Then you ride a conveyor belt-type thingie to the top of the hill, pick a lane, and whooosh, slide down the mountain. At the bottom, the staff insists you "drag your feet" to slow down, but if you can't stop in time there are big red inflatables to cushion your stoppage.

I was surprised at the level of organization of snow tubing. I expected a free-for-all area of tubes bumping into each other, but there were about 15 lanes where you ride down individually and then clear out at the bottom to make room for tubers at the top. I was also surprised there were hills built into the tubing area so you didn't go straight down, but up and down, and at times, getting air if you went fast enough.


The staff at Liberty was really friendly. They would give you a good push down the mountain if you needed one and practically begged you to let them spin you. That style of going down was fun, but you couldn't do to too many of those before your head would be spinning faster than your snow tube. My favorite way down was on my belly with a fast running start to encourage speed.

I really enjoyed snow tubing and will be sure to go again in the future. If we have to have cold weather anyway, why not take advantage of it?

Merry Christmas

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6



Fully human and fully God, Christ came to reconcile us with the one who created us. Through Him our relationship with God can be restored. The greatest gift we will ever receive is the salvation God provided through Jesus Christ our Lord. May we not forget the true meaning of Christmas in midst of all the other exciting things this holiday has come to mean. God gives good gifts.

Here Comes Santa Claus

Get to bed. Santa's on his way!

Don't forget to leave him some cookies and milk.

And a carrot for Rudolph if you're really nice.

Almost Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve friends!

Heading out my Aunt's house for some delicious holiday fixin's. I can't wait to celebrate the season with my loved ones. Enjoy your time with yours!


And by golly I hope your done with your shopping. The malls are chaos at this time of year with frantic last minute shoppers, grouchy sales clerks, messy shelves, dwindling merchandise, loud music, long lines, and no parking. It's like high-speed Christmas on steroids in those places. Only step foot in them if you absolutely must.

Ocean City Winterfest of Lights

It was sooo cold today so we canceled our walk up the boardwalk in favor of walking around in warmer places (read: went shopping). My toes were thankful; my wallet not so much.

As soon as it got dark, however, we decided to brave the cold windy weather to attend the Winterfest of Lights, a Christmasy light show at Ocean City, MD. You only really need to go to this winterfest once, but as my parents pointed out, they add a couple new things every year and it gives you something to do.

As it is now after Thanksgiving, I can accept Christmas themed things. I found it pretty annoying that radio stations starting playing Christmas music and stores started setting up their Christmas decorations before halloween even. Let us enjoy one holiday at a time. Geez, people!

Camera Woes Begone

When I went to the shore this Thanksgiving, I took my camera along to snap some photographs of the ocean waves cascading over the pier rocks. On the first walk we took down the boardwalk, I put said camera inside my knit hat for easier carrying. Unfortunately, the camera fell out of my hat and onto the ground. Bleh. It never turned back on again. It had been acting up earlier, but I'm fairly certain I pulled its last straw by throwing it on the ground. It had been well loved and well traveled. I will miss you good friend.

In brighter news, however, I spent my Christmas money on a new camera, so now I can resume my usual photographing happiness. A month without my own camera was a miserable existence.

I decided to stick with Canon since I was very pleased with my last camera, and can I just say, I LOVE my new Canon A1000? I opted for the brushed bronze color since the plum isn't exactly the prettiest shade of purple. It has a ridiculous 10 megapixels that could potentially make prints the size of poster murals. Craziness. Plus there's a 4X optical zoom and its macro option is way better than my last one. See my Christmas nails? The red glitter appears quite close.


Sorry, I will stop reveling in my new camera joy. My attention must now be turned to crafting a carrying case, so I don't end up throwing this one on the ground too.

Keep Out of the Doghouse

Men, I hope you stayed out of the doghouse this Christmas by remembering to never get your special lady a vacuum cleaner, blender, toaster, mop, washing machine, ironing board, crock pot, mixer, pots, pans, feather duster, and well, you get the idea--anything used for cleaning, cooking, washing, or commonly associated with any type of menial household chore. The more practical the present, the more likely a disaster waiting to happen.

JC Penny's bewareofthedoghouse campaign seemed to create a buzz in the blogosphere. Watch the linked video. I think it's funny; but to be fair, a tad sexist as well. Women are never exactly exiled to the doghouse when they give a bad present.

Although, giving a man a typically masculinized useful product (like tools for example) does not work to reaffirm contested gender roles. Most men are fine with the assumption that they like hammers (and therefore fixing or building things) as a collective group. Most women, however, are not fine with the assumption that they like vacuum cleaners (and therefore cleaning things) as a collective, because they've been unduly confined to this role for centuries past.

Therefore, my response to the JC Penny's ad is this: Men shouldn't get all the heat for poor gift giving attempts, but at the same time, men should know better than to give "gifts" that make women feel like domestic slaves. It's just common sense my friends.

Gender roles aside though, the best bet for a successful gift is one that is tailored to the individual. If your wife/girlfriend hints she wants a blender for Christmas, it might (and I say might quite purposefully) be okay to forgo the diamond earrings you were going to get her and go for the blender she requested instead. Gifts that indicate you've paid attention (commonly known as 'gifts from the heart') always go farther than gimmicky ones that TV commercials tell you must get.

That said, I think it's funny that my dad got my mom a pink sapphire ring. I wrote this post even before I saw her present. My dad is a smart man, smart man.

All I want for Christmas is you.

Don't forget to track Santa on Google Earth as he brings all the children of the world their presents. Santa must be real, he's on Google Earth


No matter what Santa brings you though, Merry Christmas! May your holiday be filled with joy and happiness and love.

Ba Humbug

My pastor had an awesome sermon on Sunday about how Christians have become overrun by materialism and greed especially at Christmastime. I couldn't agree more, and unfortunately I think we all (myself included) fall captive to these sorts of sentiments in our American celebration of the holiday season. We have let consumerism rob us of the joy of Christmas. Take for example the plastic pony commercial.


A girl gets a real pony as a child. Her friend gets a plastic pony. The friend gets jealous when she sees the other girl's real pony. What good is a plastic pony when your friend has a real one? 20 years later the spoiled girl gets a Lexus in her driveway. Those same old feelings of superiority gush back in.

What a moral. Treat yourself to the best. Outshine your friends. What has happened to us? Where have our relationships gone? As my pastor said, contentment is elusive--a present tense concept. We need to find it, keep it, and garner it. If there is anybody who should be content, it should be us.

Candylane

Hershey Park at Christmas time is the greatest! They have millions of lights and lots of chocolate-y fun. I can't believe they started charging for entrance. We used to go for free:( But now I guess you can ride the rides without charge. We rode the Reeses Cup Challenge a zillion times and I pretty much suck at it. That one is shooting a laser gun at targets while zooming through the ride.

The whole town smells like chocolate, and I love it. If you have not gone before, you must next year, even if you have to travel miles to get to PA. As far as amusement parks go, it is my favorite one I've ever been to. Nothing can compare.

The free candy they gave out after the chocolate ride this year, though, was those darn Kissables. They are too much candy-coating and not enough chocolate. Where's the good stuff?

Happy Christmas!

It's finally christmas!! Yay.


Merry Chrismas everyone! Feliz Navidad. Wi na ge nyare Su dome Kirismass. Bonn e Erez Ane. Sugeng Natal lan warsa enggal. Ia manuia le Kilisimasi ma le tausaga fou. Nadolig LLawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda.

So that's Merry Christmas in a bunch of different languages. Yeah. And for all I know, I could have just said you look like an elephant and smell like one too. I am a trusting soul.

Merry Christmas in 360+ languages...

O Christmas Tree

I absolutely love my grandma's Christmas tree. It is so quaint and endearing. The colored lights make me feel nostalgic. She sets it up in a large antique basin/sink structure so people can see it from the front window.

And I love my mom's Christmas tree. After dumping the the old one last year, my parents got a new, 'cheating' tree, as in the lights come already installed in the fake green piney branches. Let's just say it made my dad happy as it practically eliminated his job. My mom, nevertheless, laments about how we are all party poopers and won't bother to help her with the decorating anymore. We tell her to just not put it up then, and that makes her sad so she ends up making it look like a Martha Stewart tree year after year. Her tree standards are just too high for the rest of us.

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies are for me

My family's annual cookie-baking day was this week. Look at the yield below.

If that's not enough cookies to last a year long, you either smear cookies on your toast for breakfast or are friends with the cookie monster.

My grandma's house was so nice and warm and smelled Christmas-cookie-delicious. Mmmm.


Seriously. We made bucket-loads of cookies. The whoopie pies are my favorite, but I don't have any pictures of those. Amazinlgy, I escaped the day only eating one cookie. That is self-control my friend!

Icing Explosion

May have had a little mess while baking cookies yesterday.
When I was mixing up the icing for the whoopie pies, I may or may not have used a bowl too small for the recipe. Everything in the kitchen got splattered with powerdered sugar, including myself. I ran to get my camera and left empty floor-colored footprints where I had been standing. Whoops.