On New Year's Eve Day, my family and I went snow-shoeing on a near-bye mountain. It was neat to do an activity-outing with so many of us together (8 people!). It was beautiful, too, but the lighting turned out not right on a number of pictures... I think something was wrong with how it automatically decided to expose. Oh, great, I just looked and my camera is set to take pictures in its "Tv" mode, whatever that means. I think that was the problem.

Please know that these snow pictures from snow-shoeing were not taken at my house! :) We went onto a mountain with more snow.

The lighting turned out pretty good on this one! (I think it was probably taken while the camera was still on a more normal setting)

And lighting represented wrong again (picture probably taken after the setting was changed away from a normal setting). I think this was my first time snow-shoeing. I liked it pretty well, especially running (jogging) for short bits. I liked feeling more in control and safer than with skiing, (I think if I was better at cross-country skiing, maybe the control thing wouldn't be such an issue.)

Pictures from Christmas. I think I was talking or about to talk or just talked in this picture... We wore home-made "elf" hats on Christmas and helped at and enjoyed a community dinner in a nearby community (ranks as a one-stop-light-intersection town).

Thanks to a brother for taking the sisters-in-elf-hats photos.

A highlight from New Year's Eve day... twice hearing what was presumably the neighbor's cannon going off and the resulting conversations. So Mary Poppins is not quite as unrealistic as one might think... :)