Merry Christmas! I got a new camera!

I broke out my big present today because it's my new camera and I NEED it for tomorrow morning. Oh my goodness; I'm in love! It's not a huge upgrade...I had a Canon Rebel XT, and I went with the Rebel T3i this time, opting to stick with a more affordable body to leave more room in the budget for lenses. But between the fact that my old Rebel was showing its age and the improvements they've made in the newer Rebels....it's a BIG difference. I'm amazed at how in focus the pictures I took today are, even though it was a cloudy, rainy day. I'm also astounded at how wide the kit lens opens up (uhh, probably the old kit lens did exactly the same thing; but I haven't used that one for so long I'm not even sure where it is.....I never felt the lack of a wide angle until I started this blog and wanted pics of entire rooms at once). I can take a picture of the whole Christmas tree without lying on the floor now! Anyway, I'm already having an awesome Christmas, me and my new camera, and everyone should be expecting much nicer photos in future blog posts!

Also! My card reading woes are over, because the new camera uses an SD card instead of Compact Flash, and there's a card reader for it built right into my laptop. Whoo hoo!

We spent today visiting with my Dad's side of the family. Tomorrow people (my mom and stepdad plus my brother and sister-in-law) come to us in the morning, and then we've got nowhere to be until late afternoon when we pop down the street to close out Christmas at a friend's house.

And post Christmas is our mad rush to get the nursery finished before Dave's break is over/the baby is born. I will need a lot of breaks from actual nursery work to post about stuff, so there will be lots to see here.

So Merry Christmas to everyone! I'll leave you with a few pictures from my beloved new camera (I want to either name it or write a poem about it. Or both):

Check out Gavroche the kitty....rainy day and I didn't even open the blinds first! This is with my old cheapy 50 mm fixed lens.

And never before seen in a photograph: my ENTIRE dining room! All at once! I just stood there, opened up the lens, and took the picture! I didn't clean the dining room first. But you're probably too excited about seeing the whole Advent calendar in one fell swoop to even notice that.

And when you turn the camera the other way? You can take a picture of Gable AND the Christmas tree without even leaving the den. And again....no flash, dark outside, room with a frustrating lack of overhead lights, and it's STILL pretty in focus. Have I mentioned that I love my new camera?