This Week In Pics - Post Christmas Check-In

As the Bloggess likes to say, this is not a real post. But here's a little of what John and I have been up to this week.

On Christmas Eve we discovered colonial Williamsburg celebrates the season of Silent Night by blasting the crap out of everyone's eardrums with nonstop cannon fire - and it. is. awesome.

Awwww yeeeah.

Later there were lines of mini-bonfires and a fife & drum corp:

Cool stuff.

On a random note, I downloaded a free photo app called Snapseed this week - on the recommendation of Tom Bricker, the famous Disney photographer - and I'm really liking it so far. Amazing tools, filters, and frames, and it's ridiculously easy to use. If you take a lot of phone pics (and these days, who doesn't?), you should give a try.

A quick before & after, after playing with a few of Snapseed's filters.

I love antiquing up here, and while in a fabulous old clock shop today I spotted a familiar face:

 A relative of Madame Leota, perhaps? :D

 

An old shot for comparison:

We also spotted some seasonal nightmare fuel:

HE SEES YOU WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING. 

MUAH. AH. AHHHH.

Now that Christmas is over I can show you the Borderlands cross-stitch I made for my friend Missy:

And for my friend & CW co-writer Sharyn, a Spock cat pin cushion:

 I can't take credit for him, though; he's custom made by Kathleen of Fat Cat Crafts. 

(The bad pun is all me, though. Of course. ;))

My mom is making me post this next one:

Just for you, Mom. 

(We got a little silly towards the end there. I think there was more frosting on us than the house.)

John and I got each other a few geeky toys and goodies, but I think our friend Renee wins the gift-off this year. See, a few weeks ago John forgot Renee's name during a random conversation, so I jokingly suggested to her later that she should emblazon her name on the tackiest Christmas sweater she could find, and make THAT his present. So she did.

Yes, it lights up. Yes, her name is in a giant heart. But it's the enormous velvet bow with the jingle bell underneath that REALLY makes it work. 

For his part, John couldn't stop laughing for ages. I think his new sweater *almost* topped the glorious new Hobbes plush Renee also made for him. (And how cool is that??)

We know Renee because of this site, btw; like many of our closest friends these days she's a reader-turned-fan-turned-friend, and yet another reason why I freaking love the internet and this community. We may be scattered across the country and the globe, my friends, but gosh dang it, we can still be besties.

And on that sappy note, I'm off to watch my hubby teach my father and brother how to play Skyrim. And maybe eat more cookies. Because during the week after Christmas, you can never eat too many cookies. [serious nod]

*****

[Update: Since so many of you have asked, here's the pattern Renee used for Hobbes. And it's even free! Woot woot!]