Merry Christmas 2019
Started: 2019-12-28 22:49:01
Submitted: 2019-12-29 00:06:47
Visibility: World-readable
In which the intrepid narrator wishes his readers a Merry Christmas this year, and digs into the archives to find old family photos
We visited my parents in Walla Walla for Christmas, and took the time to get a family photo. Merry Christmas!
And a Happy Solstice -- and this year I learned about Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun, the first day after the solstice where it is obvious that the sun is returning from its long journey south, and spring will come again.
While I'm here, I'm going to share a couple of family Christmas photos from years past, featuring generally the same cast of characters, though we age in reverse here -- a feature which is especially obvious in Calvin and may not be obvious in the rest of us.
I have a more-traditionally-posed version of this picture, from Thanksgiving at Leoni Meadows in 2016, but I like this version better because it shows Julian as a precocious toddler, escaping from the family photo.
This is not strictly a picture from a Christmas letter but it does come from our Christmas dinner in Jaipur in 2015. I am obviously distracted by watching Calvin in an attempt at making sure he doesn't grimace at the camera; which is not especially successful.
In 2014 we stood in my living room in Boulder for our photo -- and because Bethany and Josh weren't present we added them separately.
In 2013 Willy hit the button on the self-timer on my camera while we were visiting my parents in Walla Walla.
From 2011, you can see me holding the remote control for my camera to trigger the photo:
Finally, the earliest obvious photo of Christmas of my family, from my parents' house in Walla Walla in 2010: