This Year's Christmas Card: Merry Christmas

            Merry Christmas!!         

(Sarah found these super perfect NZ Christmas ornaments - pretty
much the only thing we purchased to make this tree happen.  They give
our tree a homely feel as our NZ roots deepen.)

Well in the effort to save a little money in postage, we are doing a Merry Christmas blog post this year. It will not feel the same in your hands and you will not get that same fuzzy feeling from getting a card addressed specifically to your or yours, but we hope you still feel our love being sent your way!

We have tried to take a few fun pics from our Christmas tree to add some festivity.  Our tree/branch, stump, and most ornaments were found out in parks while on our walks (no worries, all kosher, we think). No making fun of our tree!

(Yes our tree is just a little bit scraggly but that's
OK by us.  We are loving "Frederick" just the
same.  I named him that and he loves it.)

(Sarah loves finding Paua shells and they are a huge NZ
deal.  People make jewelry and all other sorts of pretty
things out of them.  The Maori have always used them
to decorate their statues among other things. They have
a very distinct look to them!)

(Our garland and rings were made courtesy of Sarah's mad magazine recycling skills.)

(Google has a new auto awesome that tweaks your photos.  It just happened to put the sparkles to this shot of the tree, almost creating the same affect as Christmas lights!  Cool.)

(We discovered this amazing piece of a tree that had been cut almost all of the way through.  We managed to get this bad boy home - very heavy - and then I used it to make one of the sweetest tree stands I have ever seen. Seriously, can you show me a cooler one?  The extra pine needles are hiding the water bowl.  Is it growing out of the floor?)

(Up close Paua Shell and you can see our homemade snowflake in this pic as well.)

(We have talked about Tui birds and these Tui birds are used to decorate the Tui brewing company.  We needed some more shiny on the tree and Sarah was not about to let these go to waste - probably have our time living with the Johnson family in Norfolk for this sort of thinking.)