Christmas at the Cabin

This year for Christmas, Wren and I decided to take photos in our hideous Christmas sweaters!

We both made comics (you can see his on his blog).

We fixed up the cabin nice (Wren's cabin he's been building at the quarry), MacGyver-ed up a Charlie Brown tree with random "ornaments", 

We made dinner together.

And we each wrote a Christmas poem. Here's mine. Ehem...

It's the Cabin for Christmas!

We decide with delight

A list is created

To make everything just right.

It's groceries and bedding

And two heaters for sure!

Lights and extension cords

Are a cabins Christmas cure.

We roll into the quarry

In the Echo packed real tight

Across a newly formed river

Increasing in its height.

But we make it to the cabin

With daylight yet to spare

We get to the unpackin'

And set up with excited care.

Wren's at the generator

Makin' us some heat

I'm  on sweep n' tidy

And soon all's nice and neat.

A tiny Charlie Brown tree

Will add some Christmas light

We decorate with randoms

And what a jolly wholesome sight.

The night is getting chilly

And our stone abode is not yet warm

So dinner's a can of hot soup

And we enjoy the rustic charm.

Tummies warm and full we're ready

Stocking caps still on our head

To watch Muppets Christmas Carol

As we snuggle into bed.

Sharing Christmas in the cabin

Is such a sweet delight

I'm thankful for just everything

'Cause everything is just right.

Christmas in the new year!

So this Christmas I had 3 celebrations. My family in Port Townsend, which includes the mom-prompted, annual family road trip to Wallmart (against my protest and local photo suggestions) for family photos (see below).  The rest of us gently protest and groan, playing our parts, but always have a fun time.  Our holiday is never short of heaps of food and fun-poking, and for gifts... enough socks to warm a swarm of millipedes.

One tradition we have is to take a photo of  "the kids", meaning my brother (Duane), sister (Darcy) and I in a sort of totem-pole pose.  It's been pretty fun to see the same pose over the years.  Here's this years.

After my family Christmas, Wren and I went to Hoodsport to be with his family in a cabin on the Hood Canal with snow and everything!  We did 2 puzzles, and various crafty fun things.  One of the fun craftys was making cards for people with their name and its meaning.  Here's an example.

I also was super excited to know that Wren still had his xmas card from a few years back that I gave him, and since I have been making comics and posting them here, I thought I should share this one!

All in all it was a pretty great Christmas. =)

Inspirational Comic Relief

So I've been inspired.  Wren Schutz has been creating comics on his blog for some years now, and I just happen to have made two for his collection (which I will share below).  They have been hand-drawn, then had a bit of sprucing or coloring (via computer) from Wren.  His comics are all computer drawn (though others have submitted to his collection as well using various forms of creation), so I decided to give that method a try.

Being my first time, this took me about two and a half hours.  I brainstormed this morning about puns, and liked the idea of heart beat as my theme.  I did some research on Wikipedia for inspiration and had a handful of ideas.  This is the idea that stuck.  To help with the overly-cleverness of this, here is some wiki info on the heart... the heart is self-exciting (it works by it's own cells making it happen, vs. muscles in your leg that need conscious or reflex-driven stimuli to work)... action potential is what is created from nodes and contractions that create and regulate ones heartbeat... therefore, this cartoon heart has to get moving, or "beat feet" (beat being what a heart does) to make itself work... Morgan has the word Organ in it, and Chambers because of the 4 chambers of the heart.  One caption was "Morgan decided to take up jogging after his mom said he wasn't reaching his action potential" and we all want to reach our potential, right?! So anyway, I've been having a great time using an learning Photoshop, so this was another creative opportunity for that.  And now, here are my two previous comics...

Wren added the background and color to this... on his blog he rates it like this... which I think is hilarious!

CAUTION! This week's comic is pretty tasteless. Or sacrilegious. Or in poor humor. Or all of the above. If you are the type of person who doesn't like hearing jokes that fit into any or all of the categories, you shouldn't read this week's comic.

The second comic I created was this one which I thought was definitely not in need of a warning, but simply  pretty darn cute.  Again, Wren added the color and background awesomeness.

So there you have it.  Maybe not enough for a book yet (which Wren has... do I sound like I'm in competition or what!?), or great enough to be begged into art school, but enough fun to continue at my leisure. So three cheers for comic relief, inspiration, team-work, and fun! Hip hip hooray!