December 2015 Photos

Pictures only, this post.

I have nothing to write–a dry well–but I have all sorts of pictures from a dozen occasions that have so far only sat on my smart phone and camera, unviewed, unloved, and neglected. It’s a bad habit of mine, to snap all sorts of pictures on all sorts of occasions and promptly forget about them. So today, pictures. Here’s what I’ve been up to the last couple of weeks.

Thanksgiving, for one. For some reason, I just love that picture at the top. It looks as though it should be done in oils and hung in a dining room somewhere. “Mennonite Thanksgiving,” maybe.

I posted my first Instagram photo ever on Thanksgiving Day, and it was this one:

Sadly, I only posted two other Instagrams, both on that same day while inspiration was still fresh, but still…look me up. I plan to post more.

Here’s one of Jaxson that I love:

And another of my Grandma Miller, who lives about ten hours away in Indiana, and me. It was wonderful to see her, but I had a horrible drippy cold at the time and had to get up to blow my nose every ten minutes or so. You can’t tell it on the picture, thankfully, and I only mention it because picture perfect lives are sorta boring and have the the tendency to make other people needlessly jealous. Pain and discomfort interests everybody and makes them feel better about themselves. It is wise to capitalize on pain.

I also got to see my Great Uncle Jake on that trip. Here he is with MacKenzie, Madi, and Morgan (and Jeff reading in the background).

Here is another Thanksgiving picture, this time visiting a friend:

And a tea party that included funny glasses:

And an early Christmas celebration with my family. I will be gone over Christmas, and so will Jeff and Jennie and the nieces, so it was really special to have this early celebration and not miss out on everything.

Jennie made a snowman cheeseball:

Which Madi informed us was all her idea. Here is Madi with another brilliant creation of hers–a Play-do world of purple grass and pink houses.

We worked on a puzzle, an annual tradition:

And exchanged presents.

It seems anymore, our family celebrations consist of a whole lotta adults sitting around snapping pictures of each other. Or standing, as the case may be.

Speaking of the underside of things, have you thought lately about what it would feel like to view life from the level of a table leg?

Here’s Jaxson again, crying amid crumpled wrapping paper because his dad will only let him play with his own tractor and not his cousin Donovan’s as well. Don’t worry, he recovered quickly and was happy as a lark until later in the evening, when he gagged over a bite of salty Play-do. Adults tend to view children as carefree, but a child can live a thousand tragedies in a day, each just as heartbreaking as the one before. Their only advantage is that they forget more easily.

And here is Kathy sticking out her tongue. See you next time!