Link Roundup

This is my last post until after the New Year. I am wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Be Safe and Be Happy!

• Photography
• Christmas Bokeh tips

• How to Take Beautiful Bokeh Christmas Images with 31 Stunning Examples

• How to Photograph Holiday Candlelight

• Diet, Food and Holiday
• The Ugly Truth of the Skinny Fixation by Heidi Powell

  This topic is a bit more serious than a lot of other things I share on this blog, but I feel very strongly that it needs to be discussed. If you feel like you might be struggling with an eating disorder, please don’t think I am here to shame you. Nope – I have been there in my own life. For many years I struggled with a combination of eating disorders, and I know this is something I will forever need to keep in mind to help my recovery for the rest of my life.

  Let’s face it. There’s tremendous pressure in today’s society to be magazine-cover thin. Even though we realize many of these photos are altered and airbrushed, we still see the thin person on the cover, who looks soooo happy, and we want to be that person. And some people are willing to do anything to become that person, including behaviors that lead to eating disorders.

• Pets and Animals
• A Wee Tree

  A cute pictorial story with Wylla as the main character. She is a special needs cat that will always be a tiny little thing. She turned 10 months not so long ago and if I remember correctly, weighs under six pounds. She is becoming quite the world traveler.

• Therapeutic Hens Have Seniors Talking Turkey

  I am a long time follower of a blog called HenCam: A Chicken Keeping Life . The blog author (Terry Golson) was involved in setting up a chicken coop at a nursing home and this article is about that coop. Her blog is teeming with information as well as pictures and tidbits of life. I especially love her goats, Pip and Caper. There is an excellent picture on her blog of some residents viewing the chickens.

  Life Care has always been supportive of four-legged (and, now, feathered) residents, and the 40-acre nursing home keeps goats, llamas and even an alpaca on the land, as well as a house cat to receive snuggles and behind-the-ear-scratches from residents. But no one quite expected the reception the chickens would receive.

  The chickens at Life Care Center reside in a coop overlooking a large picture window in the center, permitting residents to take a break and watch the chickens without the ordeal of venturing outside. “I helped to site the coop so that the residents could enjoy it from windows and wheelchairs, and yet it was in a spot that was also good for the chickens,” Golson tells SeniorLiving.net.

• Inspirational
• Grace for Your Unmerry Moments

  Struggling at the holidays is just proof that what Christmas is all about is true: I need a Savior. And the same grace that covers me the rest of the year is there for me in my unmerry moments, too.

  Does this mean I just do and say whatever I want? Nope. But it does mean that when I mess up and fall short of the expectations of myself and others, it’s okay. It’s not a time for guilt and condemnation. It’s a time for celebration because the moments when I fall are when the message of Christmas means most of all.

  Crazy? Yep. But so is sending the Son of God to be born in a manger. The whole gospel is full of surprises and upside-down thinking. That’s the wonder of it all.

• When Your Best of List Comes up Empty

  I love lists. I really do. As a matter of fact, I’m itching to make a grocery list right now. Then I want to make another to-do list, because the one I wrote two days ago is missing several things – some I’ve already done, but writing them down just to cross them off makes sense to me.

  It was fun and I assumed I’d make it an annual practice. But some years don’t have much in the “best of” category.

  So what do we do when our year’s best-of list comes up empty?

  1. Start by keeping it in perspective.

  2. Count your blessings – small as they may be.

  3. Give yourself permission to grieve.

  4. Cling to hope and look forward to next year.

  {Note: I eliminated words between the numbered list in the last quote. Go to the article link to read it entirely.}