Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com » Christmas

Benspark.com Annual Christmas Letter

Drew — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 02:02:41 +0000

Each year I help my father write the family Christmas Letter. In it he tries to summarize the year in review. Since today is Christmas and I am going to be spending it all day with the family and instead of writing a post I wrote a recap ahead of time and because I take photos I figured I’d recap the year with some of my favorite photos with links to the posts from those days. Just click the picture to read the post.

I want to thank everyone who has been reading this blog for the past year and longer. Next year I’m kicking things into overdrive so get ready.

If you are looking for more Christmas Photos and see what he was been up to for Christmas and Christmas Eve take a look at my Holiday Blog. This was something I set up so that my in-laws could celebrate Christmas Day with us. I also have a huge Flickr Set of Photos from Christmas 2009.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Benspark.com Annual Christmas Letter

Ultimate Christmas Games Link List 2009

Drew — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:39:57 +0000

Each year my friends at work look for the fun Christmas games that are scattered across the web. Below is the list of fun things that we have found over the years and also I’ve added in some things for the Kids.

For the Kids

Personal Video from Santa

Countdown to Christmas

Santa Update

Portable North Pole

Santa Live

NORAD Tracks Santa

Track Santa on your mobile device – Google Maps offers NORAD’s Santa Tracking on supported phones.

Kid’s Christmas Activities

Christmas Coloring Pages

Disney Printable Advent Calendar

Jan Brett’s Site – Lots of Activities for kids.

Fun with Photos

Funny Christmas Videos

Funny Elf Bowling Christmas Games

Other Fun Christmas Games

If you know of other fun games let me know, leave a comment with the link and get some linky love.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Ultimate Christmas Games Link List 2009

Visions of Snowmen

Drew — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:43:30 +0000

Photo-A-Day #1716

We love our Auntie Mo. She sent Eva a great Christmas package today that included a Disney Coloring Book, Jan Brett’s Gingerbread Baby and a pair of special glasses that make it possible to see snowmen when you look at Christmas lights.

I thought it would be cool if I could put the glasses over the lens of my camera and take a shot of the Christmas Tree. I wasn’t sure if the camera lens would pick up on the snowman thing like it does when a person looks through the lenses. So, I taped the glasses over the lens of my camera, put the camera on my Flipcage and set it to the lowest ISO to get a better shot of the light. It worked pretty well too. Here is my setup.

Here are the additional photos that I took with this setup.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Visions of Snowmen

No One Likes a Skinny Santa

Drew — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:09:36 +0000

Photo-A-Day #1712

My aunt and Uncle picked up this great new ornament for us for our Christmas Tree. Since Allison and I kayak we do enjoy Christmas ornaments like this one. We even incorporated kayaks into our custom wedding cake topper. Makes me want to get back out on the water very soon.

I’m dragging crazy butt today. Eva was up at 2:45am and that means that we have been up since that time too. But, we wouldn’t change these moments for anything. The time we spend together even if it is super early in the morning, she still says the cutest things then as well. I’m just feeling very fortunate to have her in our lives.

Tonight we watched Rudolph together. Have you ever really watched that as an adult? Santa is a real jerk early on in the movie and he only gets jolly once he gets fat. Seriously, I think that when Mrs. Claus is nagging him to eat she nails it on the head, “No one likes a skinny Santa!” So because no one likes him skinny he compensates by being more of a jerk to everyone.

He’s simply horrible to Rudolph. When Rudolph’s fake nose comes off after Rudolph shows he is the best flyer of all the fawns Santa tells his reindeer Dunder/Donder (real name was not Donner originally) that he (Donner) should be ashamed of himself. That is a terrible thing for Santa to say. Santa also blows off the elves when they try and sing him a song. Santa says something disparaging and then leaves.

But this all changes when Santa needs something from Rudolph. Later he is right on jolly once Mrs. Claus fattens him up. I’m not sure what message this movie is really trying to send but seeing it now I’m not so sure it is the best one for kids. It basically says: If you are different people will accept you only if they need you as a last resort. I expected more from Santa. He should be on his own naughty list after his intolerance of Rudolph. CampJinx.com seems to have spent much more time on this overall theory, which is a little more harsh than mine in their video Santa is a D__K!.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

No One Likes a Skinny Santa

BenSpark’s 2009 Christmas Wish List

Drew — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:18:52 +0000

Seems like some of my favorite people are giving their suggestions for Christmas gifts. I like stuff and I have some cool fun ideas to share. The items in this list are either ones I own outright, got from advertisers and sponsors or really really want. Also please know that all links that go to places where you can buy stuff are affiliate ones.

Eva from Christmas is for Kids from last year.

Stuff I Own.

1. – Okay, the Canon Powershot Camera I own is not available right now. I love my Canon SD800is but if I was to upgrade to a new Canon Powershot I’d go with Canon PowerShot SD980IS 12.1MP. This camera has a 3 inch screen so I can use one of the items I got from sponsors called the Flipbac. I’d love to be able to finally use that. Why there was no 2.5 version made first is anyone’s guess. 2.5 inch is pretty much the standard size of the LCD that many cameras have right now. But 3.0 inch is the new standard that I see coming.

2. – iPod Touch – Before I bought my Droid I used my iPod Touch everywhere for checking e-mail updating twitter and games on wi-fi. I still enjoy using it very much to watch movies and podcasts. I am loving me some Gary Vaynerchuk Wine Library Tv, Cali Lewis on GeekBrief.tv, Help my Business Sucks and Aalgar’s Loving Reviews of Transformers. These help me get through my morning workouts.

3 – Flip Mino HD – I have 4 of these and have paid for one. After I bought my first one I won 2 more and was given one by my friend Dina Riccobono. I gave one to Allison and kept one for myself and put a custom SkinIt on this one which I broke going down a children’s slide. I gave another one to my sister and I kept the one from Dina to replace my one that broke. (Well, the screen broke but it still records fine so I carry both with me.

4. – An iFrogz Custom iPod Skin – I own a half dozen iFrogz products from silicone covers for my iPod Touch to a sweet cover for my Dad’s iPod nano that protects, covers and yet displays the Harley-Davidson symbol on it. And Eva’s earpods. That is what she calls her iFrogz Tadpole which is so great for her. Check out those products through the link below.

5. – My DaVinci – If you are looking for a very heartfelt gift for a loved one then this is a fantastic one. Allison got me one of these of our first family photo taken the day after Eva was born. Yeah, we didn’t get a family photo till the day after she was born. Score one for the “photographer” in the family.

Items I was given by friends, Sponsors or advertisers, also stuff I won.

6. – An Amazon Kindle – I received an Amazon Kindle from Dina Riccobono at the Wings and Pings TweetUp and it has completely changed the way I read books. I bought Chris Brogan’s Book Trust Agents as well as Crush It from Gary Vaynerchuk.

7. – Poken – I received a Poken from Pokengirl (Vanessa and Juliet sisters who run the business and who are awesome.) I really like the relationship that we’ve formed from a simple tweet of me asking if Pokens were worth it. A Poken is a digital business card, I use it at all my conventions.

8. – Phototrackr – I have an original one of these. I just received 5 of the newest edition, the mini photo trackr. So some of you might be getting one of these soon. Be on the lookout for a great contest on the way.

9. – XShot – I’ve gotten so many of these and given so many away. I love this product and it goes with me everywhere. If you haven’t gotten one of these yet, you are missing out big time, missing being part of the photo.

10. – HP Pavilion DM3-1040US 13.3-Inch Laptop – I just bought one of these but I used a $100 card that I received from Tony Welch (@frostola) at Blog World Expo. It is a perfect size computer for travel and doing simple tasks for blogging, it is fantastic.

Stuff I Want

11. – LEGO – Sure I’m nearing 36 years old but I completely love LEGO. For a while back in 1997-199 I was ordering sets from the LEGO online shop almost daily. I have all of the first sets that LEGO did for Star Wars, tons of them. They are awaiting the day when Eva is ready to sit down and play with them and not scatter them across the room like leaves on the wind.

LEGO has even gone digital with tons of video games like LEGO Rock Band. I learned that there are many great songs on that disc that I’d love to play.

12 – Funky Belt Buckles – I’m enjoying showing off my inner nerd with my Autobot Belt Buckle but I would also like the Decepticon one as well as the Thundercats one. Then the more I look around I see that there are other ones that I’d like. I see a Cookie Monster one and an Oscar the Grouch one, my two favorite Sesame Street Character. Then you get into superheores and I like this Superman one.

13. – Rock Band for Wii – Guitar Hero is a fun time but then you add Drums and singing to the mix and you have a party. But then there is also Band Hero so how do you decide?

14. – Transformers: 25th Anniversary Matrix of Leadership Edition. This is a Box Set of the complete US run of the Transformers Generation 1 cartoon. This remains to this day my absolute favorite all time cartoon series. I also would love the G.I. Joe Box set. I really wish that I started collecting those comics at the same time I was collecting Transformers. I’d love to have the whole set of those, the comic books were really good. And like my Belt Buckle above I’d like to have the complete set of Thundercats episodes, Seasons 1 and Season 2. I really thought that was on much longer.

15. – Nikon D90 – I’d love an upgrade to my DSLR. I love my D80 but come one it is 10 more numbers higher. :-)

Actually, what I really wish for:

I wish that people would join Team Eva’s Farm. This is the charity that we as a family are really getting behind. Team Eva’s Farm is a Heifer International Team and you can join to help us raise $1000 to stock Eva’s Farm. Just click the sidebar thermometer to help donate and to join the team.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

BenSpark’s 2009 Christmas Wish List