Christmas Portraits 101....

...or Why I Will Never Be a Children's Photographer.

Rule No. 1:  Three days prior to Christmas portrait event there will be no running by children whose portraits are being taken (that includes tripping and bumping heads on hard basement stairs.)

Rule No. 2:  Scissors will not be left in full reach of said children thirty minutes prior to Christmas portrait event, resulting in one previously long-haired blonde girl who now sports a pixie-ish emergency haircut.

Rule No. 3:  The portrait hack artist will not mess with the camera settings prior to said Christmas protrait event resulting in strange pictures because she could not get the camera to go back to its normal state.

Rule No. 4:  The photographer will not attempt to create studio conditions when all she has to work with is a king-size sheet and a 42" plasma television on a stand.

Rule No. 5:  The photographer will, prior to the event, take the maximum amount of Advil allowed.

The girl with the nice bruise between her eyebrows.

Kaitlyn

Gaige practicing his yoga while Nathan attempts to distract him.

Nathan caused a lot of laughing.

Matthew was a whole lot easier last year when he would stay put. This year he just wanted his mommy!

It's like herding cats. Seriously.

Out of hundreds taken, here are a few that made the cut.

Gaige

Nathan

Kaitlyn

Lauren

(the previously long-haired girl!)

Matthew

Best cousins, best friends.

Oh well, there's always next year!

Here's looking at you, kids!

Christmas Bonus

Cranberry-Pecan Bars

(a tried and true recipe of many years)

For the crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1/3 cup butter

1 cup finely chopped pecans, divided

For the filling:

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 beaten eggs

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped cranberries

2/3 cup shredded coconut

Zest of one orange

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13 x 9 inch pan with cooking spray (or butter if you prefer).
2. Chop pecans in food processor. Reserve 1/2 cup for filling.
3. Combine 1 cup flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, butter and 1/2 cup pecans in processor and pulse until you have coarse crumbs.
4. Press into prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes or until light golden brown.
5. Meanwhile, in medium bowl, mix 1 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons flour. Stir in eggs, milk, vanilla and orange zest.
6. Stir in cranberries, coconut and remaining pecans. Spread over hot baked crust.
7. Bake 23-25 minutes until light golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on rack. Cut into bars when cool.

Note: it takes about 1 1/3 cups pecan halves to make 1 cup chopped pecans.

Merry Christmas, Darling

In 1970, I was a senior in high school full of romantic ideas, crazy about boys and one boy in particular. We had dated off and on for a year or so, but he was in college and understandably didn't want to settle down with a seventeen-year-old girl. That Christmas, as I was pining away for my true love, The Carpenters released a little number called "Merry Christmas, Darling" as a single. It fit my yearnings to a tee. I went to Kresge's and plunked down my hard-earned babysitting money for the record and put it on the console stereo. I don't think I removed it for two months...well past Christmas! Karen knew about my aching heart and sang about it in her clear, pure alto voice.

It wasn't until 1978 that The Carpenters came out with their "Christmas Portrait" album. By then I was happily married with a three-year-old and one on the way. There wasn't a lot of money to spare, but I had to have that album. So I saved a little here and a little there and bought it. I played that thing to death. I loved the way each song segued seamlessly into the next one. I sang along with Karen and knew every note and pause and breath. I loved that the very first thing you hear when it starts is Karen taking a breath. I loved that they included the little known first verses of several Christmas standards.

When the children (all three of them) were going to school, I would wake them every school day during the Christmas season by playing the album. It's one of Aimee's most loved memories of childhood...waking to "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear". 

When the CD came out, I retired the worn-out album (which I still have) and replaced it with the new technology. I still have the same one. I still play it to death every year. This year, I've uploaded the songs to my MP3-capable cell phone. It's the one Christmas album that I never get tired of.

Oh, you're probably wondering if I ever got together with that college boy. I did. And we've been married 37 years. You do the math.

Let's play....Name That Blog!

Ruth, at synch-ro-ni-zing, was feeling a wee bit silly (and entertainingly clever) a couple of weeks ago while she was experiencing a sleepless night. Normally (not that she was being abnormal ), Ruth is a serious writer who challenges and inspires us with deep ponderings from her intricate thought processes. In fact, she has told me that somewhere in her past childhood she skipped Silly Ruth and went straight to Serious Ruth. She, in her moment of whimsy, challenged her followers to tell the true story behind the clever names of their blogs.

Therein lies the challenge for me. My blog name is neither clever, nor probably  interesting to anyone other than myself, but I shall forge ahead!

I was initially inspired to write my blog by a fellow chicken lover from the message board at Backyard Chickens. I found this website when I googled "raising chickens". It's a very informative resource for novice chicken owners who can ask questions of veteran chicken owners. My screen name there was BearSwampChick.

When I decided to start my blog, the only name that came to mind was "Bear Swamp Reflections". I live on Bear Swamp Road and I saw my blog as a way to reflect on the happenings of my life and my children's and grandchildren's lives. In fact, at the beginning my title had a subtitle which read "....on herding chickens and grandkids". Later on I dropped the subtitle when my writing and photos started branching out. My purpose still is to create something that my family will be able to read someday when I am gone from this world. They will still be able to hear my voice; sometimes sentimental, sometimes funny, sometimes snarky. As my daughter Aimee says, "Better a smartass than a dumbass." The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, friends.

So, since my blog name story is rather boring, I thought I would give you a little tour of my past blog headers, starting with numero uno.

This photo was taken on one of our Hocking Hills hikes.

A pool of water formed in a bowl-shaped depression in a large rock, reflecting the trees overhead,

thus the "reflections" part of the blog name.

Ruth, I have to confess that I copied you on this one.

Right after I started following synch-ro-ni-zing, I admired Ruth's collage header so much that I wanted one for myself.

And I was tired of the dark reflections photo.

I also copied Ruth's format by changing from Rounders 3 to Minima Stretch.

I like the wide open page layout on Minima.

This is also when I learned how to "write" on my photos!

So, I got tired of the super-bright collage after a while and

chose this picture of a bent trillium that I took at

Cedar Bog Nature Preserve.

It provided me a sense of peace and quiet.

Then in June this year I changed to this photo of my flower garden

in all its early summer glory

with the view of the barn in the distance.

I also added back a subtitle.

The subtitle theme stuck around for the midsummer photo exchange.

I took this one after David got my clothesline put up (finally!).

My current header, which may be my favorite so far, came about after I did a post on the covered bridges in our county. I think I'll keep it for a couple more weeks, until the Christmas season finally catches up with me. I have the decorations out and ready to go. I'm just waiting for the right moment.

The header, as of December 1, 2009.