Christmas every year looks almost the same at my house. Endless cards and games between gnoshing. Theo, Cedric (hidden) Kristanne and Doug play 13, the national card game of Viet Nam while...
...while Mason and Virginia play cribbage at the other end of the table. People change places, step in and out of games and in general have a good time.
We chose a Mexican theme for this Christmas. Christmas Eve dinner was home-made chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice and pinto beans with a romaine salad. As the family members grow, it's tough to fit everyone in with one picture.
After dinner we took a walk into the night to look back at the lights and found our selves in awe of the starry, starry night. Stars so close we could see the constellations and Milky Way as though touchable. Virginia started a carol and we stood in the street and sang and gave thanks that light pollution has not blocked ancestral skies on our tiny portion of the planet.
Grandson, Stewart, home from Japan for Christmas, brought this sample of Japanese foods. He taught us how easy Japanese is to learn because the characters are so consistent. If a character means house, or rock or walk, it will always mean that no matter how many characters in a sentence. His brother, Mason, easily picked up some Japanese words. Leave it to the young.
Christmas day was more of the same. My brother, Bill, left, joined us for the afternoon. We are playing elevator with Stewart, Virginia, Mason, Owen, Ken and myself. At the opposite end of the table, Theo, Doug, Kristanne and Laurie play RummiKub.
We played around with hats and I thought of some artists paintings as I looked at what the camera did to Mason's arm. One giant appendage and one shrunken.
I rarely wear this hat, but I love it.
It has seven watches glued on it, plus other fascinating pins, buttons, beads and junk.
I bought a Playboy jacket at a second hand store just for the buttons. (I'm a collector.) We had great fun with it. I liked this picture of Owen, though a bit blurry and in a distracting background.
It's tough to get Owen to stand still for a picture, but I love this smile.
And Dad, too. I liked this one though the light wasn't quite right.
But he liked a different one. I think he was trying not to laugh.
Stewart said, no way. The hat was too small and he couldn't get the jacket on his second arm.
None of these pictures are in the correct order. I didn't remember to take a picture of our Christmas Day dinner, which was chili rellenos with an apple and cabbage pomegranate coleslaw, and home made-by Doug and Virginia- Chicken, Pork and chili cheese tamales. Goodt stuff.
Before we finished Christmas dinner, the desert table was almost bare.
We had our anonymous book trade, only three to open. And, all too soon, it was bedtime for me, the picture taker. My ears picked up hushed conversation sliding under my bedroom door as I succumbed to sleep.
The next morning, everyone was up bright and early. Ken and Laurie's family drove back to Reno in time to put Stewart, Mason and Kristanne on an Airplane for Las Vegas. Home for Mace and Stan; Stewart will reconnect with his girlfriend before returning to Japan.
My cup runneth over.
