The Adobe Wan Thanks You for Watching on YouTube

Thanks for stopping by everyone. I’ve skipped the tutorial today to share some holiday photos with you, and thank you for your continued patronage of this website. My YouTube channel has grown to over 2000+ subscribers, and traffic is strong here on the blog. I’m taking the rest of the month off to enjoy some family time, but I’ll be back in January 2011 with Tip Tuesday tutorials. Happy Holidays!!!

Christmas Lights, Inspiration & Poop

Hey, thanks for stopping in. It’s late evening on Sunday night, and I’m making a go at trying to post regularly again.

This morning the Wood clan was a bit tired, cranky or otherwise engaged, so a personal appearance at church didn’t happen. Thank goodness for the Big God Podcast, ALC‘s live church broadcast. Great for times when you need the Lord’s message in the comfort of your own home. Jeff Manning delivered another fine sermon, and I’ve come to appreciate the way he delivers a poignant, educated message with such wit & humor. Truly, that man can preach. Kudos to his wife Echo for putting up with his shenanigans. Some quick thoughts from today’s message–John 3:16–while many wish that the “spirit of Christmas”  would carry throughout the year, here’s hoping we Christians can be mindful of our Savior more often. We should make a proactive effort to engage the spirit of Christ, instead of being the nice “gift-wrapped” Christians Jeff M mentioned today.

Aack! Only 14 minutes left before the night is through. Hurry, hurry, must type clever stuff…

Friday evening, Michelle had a well deserved night out with the girls, and I stayed home with Sydney. I have to mention that while my schedule is crazy busy, I do try to be as hands-on in the father role as possible. This means changing diapers. Now, many a comedian has joked of the experience, and honestly, I thought it was all hype after my daughter was born. I mean, I changed her diapers the first week, and I’ve been handling that duty for several months now. I scoffed when other dads cowered at the thought of changing a diaper, really it’s no big deal… at least it wasn’t until Friday night. What I didn’t know is the toxicity of the poop increases with age. I dropped Michelle off for her date, and she cutely gave me words of encouragement. “You sure you can handle a night with baby all by yourself?” Uhm yeah… I got this… or so I thought. It was about an hour later that I learned smell really is the strongest of our sensory inputs. Changing diapers? Poopie-pants? Not a big deal when there’s no odor. Newborn babies smell good, and hey! their poop really doesn’t smell at all. But then things changed. It’s one thing when you’re mentally prepared for an event, it’s a completely different experience when it catches you FULL ON by surprise. I swear, I almost closed the diaper back up and thought, “Sydney’s not crying, Michelle can change this when she gets home.” That’s when baby girl started to cry. I knew I’d have to man up, get my hands dirty, and do the doo-doo. I’m a little fuzzy on what happened next. I seem to recall feeling light-headed from the scent. The odor was so strong, our black lab Duke got up and left the room. I tried to find my happy place, but I was more concerned that Sydney would playful grab a handful of dookie and launch it up in my face. Eeeww! Work faster, work faster.

In the end, I survived the experience, but ever mindful of what my next encounter might bring.

Looks like my time ran over, so good morning to all those just checking in. In closing, earlier Friday evening the family took a holiday carriage ride through the Deerfield community where the neighbors are crazy for Christmas lights. I snapped off a few photos, and posted them on Flickr. Enjoy the photos, and make it a great week!

Movie Review – Elf

A New Christmas Classic!The Plot – While making the rounds Christmas Eve, Santa unwittingly picks up an extra passenger on a stop at an orphanage. Arriving back at the North Pole Santa discovers Buddy in his sack of goodies. Santa decides to keep Buddy and his most trusted elf Papa raises the little one as his own. The years pass and Buddy eventually figures out he’s not an elf like everyone else. Shattered by this discovery he goes on a quest to find his real father in New York. It won’t be all ice skating & sugar plums though as Buddy’s father is on Santa’s naughty list.

The ReviewElf is one of those movies people either love or hate. Fortunately for me, I was thoroughly entertained. The humor in this film falls squarely on the physical, buffoonery of Will Ferrell and he does a good job of creating a character that is likable as an adult acting like a naive child.

The first thing I noticed about this film was how it captured the nostalgia of all the Christmas claymation TV specials I watched growing up. The opening sequence made me wish I was home with the family chillin’ in front of the fireplace with some eggnog. Cue the narration by Bob Newhart (excellent casting choices in this film), and after a little background story on Will’s character we flash forward and dive head first into the plot. Not that there is much of a plot, but then I don’t think that is the point of this film.

The film wins by playing to its target audience – families – and by delivering a solid comedic performance. I laughed through the entire film. I don’t think any of the jokes were original, but not since Chevy Chase have I seen someone deliver prat falls and physical humor that just worked. I also enjoyed the bits of humor that the writers slipped in like the story about the Asparagus with stinky pee. The timing seemed perfect given the recent consumer focus.

It wouldn’t surprise me if this movie becomes a holiday classic like The Christmas Story.

Grade: A (holiday fun for all ages)

Have a happy holiday!

Well, I’m off to pick up Michelle then we head straight to the airport. In a few hours we’ll be on a plane bound for Michigan to see my folks. This will be the first Christmas in a while that Michelle hasn’t been with her sister, but I’m sure she will enjoy her time up north. It is her first White Christmas after all.

Hope your holidays are enjoyed in the company of family & friends. If you’re agnostic then “Have a nice day!”