Here's hoping the appearance of rainy days in the Midwest means the snowy ones are officially over for this season. 

There were some lovely days, though, to be sure. Below are my favorite snow/ice images of this winter, all taken about a month ago one afternoon.

For any photographers who might be reading, I shot most of these as wide open as I could on my 50mm 1.4 to play with really selective focus. Unfortunately, I often had to close to 2.2 or so because I kept hitting my 1/8000 max even with ISO 100. It was pretty bright out with all that sun and snow! 

So as we gathered at my aunt and uncle's beautiful home for Christmas Day...

...we noticed that quite a few of the male cousins were wearing argyle sweaters (except for one who wore plaid that we'll get to later). First off is my gorgeous husband, Josh, who is obviously very practiced at looking at my camera.

Then my cousins Ben and Jeff, who are brothers.

Then my cousins Bryce and Grant, also brothers (no argyle on Grant, but a still very smart cashmere sweater.) Here you'll notice the appearance of the second trend of day...women with cameras.

More argyle and camera cameos...

That's me on the right, with a slightly odd expression but without a camera in front of my face for one of the few moments that day. 

And before we move on to the last big feature of the day, here's one of my Aunt Denise that doesn't fit the previous trends but that I just like.

Now, meet my brother David, owner (at that time) of a very large beard.

Toward the end of our Christmas dinner, the cousins decided it might be fun to see David decorate his beard.

And it was.

My argyle-free but still cool cousins Grant, Joel and Daniel.

I like this clock mirror.

An appearance by our mom...and notice the camera's return to the scene.

As David's Christmas present to our mom was going to be shaving his face, we ventured out into the snow to get a few last portraits with the beard.

Stay tuned for a few more Christmas photos and the conclusion of the beard saga.

If you live in Wichita or are ever in town for a visit, you should definitely check out Mead's Corner, a fantastic downtown coffee shop at the corner of Douglas and Emporia.

On this Friday evening before Christmas, our visit was not just to enjoy coffee and warmth but also the music of our friend Landon Tucker, who now lives and performs professionally in Virginia Beach but was home for the holidays.

Landon shared the stage with local musician Matt Hamer, playing together then each separately to make for a truly wonderful evening.

This is Landon.

Come see us again soon!

A few photos from the fourth annual Cheesy Christmas Sweater Party hosted a few weeks ago by dear friends Rachel and Amy. This year, Rachel added several amazing cheesecakes, for even more cheesiness! 

This was my first outing with my new Canon 5D Mark II, and with very low lighting from lamps and Christmas tree only, I was thrilled with what I could get without flash.

God bless us, everyone.