We hope everyone had as nice a Christmas as we did.  We opened our presents on Christmas morning, as usual.  Some highlights: Savannah got a car stereo, a hair straightener and a tie-dye kit.  Stacey got a double boiler, a pair of rubber boots and a necklace/earrings set.  I got a motorcycle helmet, a fishing rod carrier and three pairs of blue jeans.  Gretchen got a pile of new toys, including one from her "cousin" Molly in California.  On the other hand, Savannah got a gift from Gretchen, which ended up being an electric razor.  We had a nice dinner of prime rib roast, and Savannah's beau Matt came over for that.  He brought me a small gift, which was very nice.  I was teasing him that it better be something from Scheel's, which is an awesome sporting goods store at the mall where he works.  It was two spinnerbaits and a Scheel's T shirt.  What a laugh. 

The birds are coming to our feeders now.  We haven't had much sunlight, but that didn't stop me from some taking some photos.

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Female downy woodpecker.

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Blue jay with sunflower seed.

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Female Northern Cardinal.

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Male Northern Cardinal with blowing snow.

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Stacey taking Gretchen for a walk in the back yard.

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Squirrel on my feeder.  Gretchen hates these almost as much as I do.  Don't let their cuteness fool you.  They're obnoxious suburban rats.

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American Goldfinch on our new finch feeder.

The day after Christmas we did lots of odd jobs around the house.  I was walking Gretchen out front when I flushed a sharp-shinned hawk out of our spruce tree.  It flew back into my neighbor's yard.  After the walk, I retrieved the camera.

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It flew around to different perches, landing for awhile on the neighbor's roof.

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It perched in this maple a lot.  I think it was trying to get some sparrows out of the bushes.