Franklin, Franklin, & Franklin

Judd & Tybe made the long trip all the way up to the Bay Area on Monday and we all celebrated by having a lovely, totally chaotic gathering at Seth & Kristen's house. There was screaming, laughing, singing, and so much more. And we managed to get all five cousins to sit still long enough for a photo. We even tried a selfie with all 11 of us - not totally successful, but not totally unsuccessful. 

New Year's Sparklers

After much discussion, and based on a tip from Nouri, Zach found sparklers at the party store on San Pablo. I'm still not clear on what makes these legal and others illegal. But we enjoyed them!

New Year's Gifts

Salty-sour-spicey sauce from Nouri to Zach:

Handmade pom-pom headband from Clara to Molly:

Folded stars (with a tale) from Molly to Opa (and scrappy neck gaiter / headband from me to Molly):

Mmmmm... merengues from Molly to the rest of us:

 Who knows what is on Zach's head?

Or what Opa is up to?

Clara decorating box from Nouri:

And with Nouri:

Pomelo from Opa to Zach:

New Year's Lights

New Year's Eve

Nouri flew out from New York to celebrate New Year's with us this year. It was sad having our first New Year's without Mary. Dieter wrote a really sweet short note about marking the transition this year - both marking Mary's death, but also taking a moment to reflect on the history and evolution of our family's version of this holiday. It's funny to think, for example, that the round candelabra that we have maybe wasn't always in existence: it's one of those things that existed as long as I can remember, so in my brain it must have always existed! But Dieter reminded us that him and Mary cobbled together the celebration with us as a way to mark the year and help their small kids (me and Nouri) understand better the passing of time.

Here's some pictures from the evening. First, just scenes from the earlier part of the evening (before candles and gifts and watching UHF):

Christmas Day 2017

      Christmas is one of my favorite holidays: since no one in our family celebrates, it is the most no-obligation holiday out there for us. The majority of the people around us celebrate Christmas, so it's like a total day off for us. Almost nothing is open, so there's nothing we "have" to do. This year, we took the bus to Mountain View Cemetery and wandered around for a bit. (although the bus drivers probably have mixed feelings about it, I was grateful that the busses were still running).