The best Christmas gift of all time....

This is a picture of the apple tree that was in our backyard in Ohio.

  Chris and I loved that tree.  I edited the photo to add a poem, that Chris and I like, to the picture, had it printed on a canvas, and gave it to Chris for Christmas.  I was very nervous to give it to him because when I received the finished product, it was much larger than I had thought (Chris can tell you that I am terrible with figuring sizes and spatial things), and the colors were so vibrant (seriously...that is how green our backyard was, I did not edit the color of the photo).  I really had my doubts that he would like it.  I thought maybe he would say something nice and act like he liked it, but I really didn't think it would come out of hiding after Christmas.  I was very surprised - and relieved - by his reaction.  He actually got very choked up and teary eyed - he loved it!!  He held the picture up in front of his face, so we couldn't really see his face, but he couldn't talk, and the words he did speak were broken.  Then he just laughed because he could not believe how choked up he was.  He put it up in our room in his reading area.  I see it every morning when I wake up - it really is big and bright ;).  Today when I woke up and saw it I just smiled because I was so happy that Chris liked it. 

I love having pictures in my house with memories behind them. Mackenzie took a picture of the Liberty Bell when she visited last December, and it is now a giant picture in my Dining room. I think of her every time I look at it. Actually, Jonathon's blog post this morning got me to post this post.  He mentioned that he loved taking photos - I mentioned in my comment that I love taking pictures and making them big for my house.  Just wanted to share with you all the best Christmas present in our house this year.  I am so happy ;)