It's all about Family: Part Deux

A few weeks ago I wrote about being with family members at Thanksgiving and how I felt about the whole experience.  At that time I vowed to spend more time traveling to visit family and take fewer solo photo trips and I have just had that resolve strengthened.  Here's why....

They say Christmas is for children and family and I've come to believe that may be one of the truest statements I've ever heard.  This year, for the first time in a few years, we were together as a family for Christmas.  Heather has come home after some time at Eastern New Mexico University in Roswell.  Granted, she was home for Christmas break every year but this time we didn't have to drive 1000 miles round trip to get her.  Chris has boomeranged and is back home with us.  In the past he's usually been home for Christmas but this one is special because (we hope) his health concerns of 2009 are behind him.

Mostly, though, this Christmas was special because Erin and her family came home from Phoenix for a week.  We've not all been together at Christmas for at least 5 years and I was surprised at how much I'd missed it. Especially because Granddaughter Katrina was home and the magic is back in Christmas.  Katrina is 10 now and still a bit of a child though she's growing up quickly.  But I have to say there is nothing to compare to the look in her eyes and on her face when opening a gift that she really really wanted.  Christmas truly is for children.

But that's not the only thing that's got me feeling so maudlin.  Our family tradition, started long ago by the Bean families that preceded ours, is that we all gather on Christmas Eve to eat chili and open gifts from each other.  Then we go to bed and when we wake up in the morning, Santa has visited with more gifts.  It's a time honored tradition and one that's going to be around for at least as long as I am.

So there we were on Christmas Eve.  Erin was in the kitchen baking a pie and I was working on the chili.  I've never cooked WITH someone and the delight of sharing my new kitchen with my eldest child is a feeling I won't soon forget.  We bumped into each other a few times, laughed, joked, and told stories from when she was Katrina's age.  The eggnog was tasty, the pie was good I'm sure, and the chili was killer as always.

While we were cooking, the laughter and shouting started wafting up from the family room.  Chris, Heather, and Katrina were playing Super Mario Brothers on the Wii.  The laughter and smack talking was music to my ears sweeter than the greatest symphony.  It made me grin like a fool just hearing them.  Then it was time to eat and we gathered in the dining room for the first time in a long time.  We moved into our house a week before Chris was born and he turned 24 in July.  Shortly after moving in we bought a table for the kitchen and ate all our meals there.  Two toddlers and a baby...not a good mix for a formal dining room with very light tan carpet.  Having remodeled the kitchen this summer, we now have seating in there for only 3 or 4 max so with 7 people in the house it was time for the dining room. 

Erin started in first, saying she thinks she remembered eating in the dining room once.  Heather couldn't remember and Chris said "this is weird...I've NEVER eaten in this room."  We had a great laugh about that and the stories started flowing.  We went through some of the things that happened when the kids were small and discovered, to Judy's shock, that all the kids had snooped for Christmas presents over the years, looking in all the logical hiding places, and Erin had even unwrapped some packages to see what was inside then re wrapped them to hide the evidence.  To her credit, she always was able to feign surprise but hey, I was a kid once and knew all the tricks.  It was no surprise to me. 

After finishing some darn good chili we adjourned to the living room and spent the next hour or so opening presents.  We open in turns, starting with the youngest and going according to age.  I mentioned earlier and I'll restate it, there is NOTHING like the look on Katrina's face when she unwrapped presents she was hoping for.  That's why Christmas is definitely for children.  Always has been, always will be...

After opening gifts we had some more eggnog and sat around telling a few more stories before Erin, Sean, and Katrina headed off to spend the night at Sean's mother's house.  I was sorry to see the night end but happy in the knowledge that this Christmas was one of the best ever...at least since I was a child.  And I'm secure in the knowledge that from this point on, no matter how far apart we are, I will do everything in my power to bring the family together every Christmas.  Yes, it's for children, but it's also for Families. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Best of the Best

I like to keep up with what's going on in the photographic community so I regularly read a lot of blogs written by other photographers.  One I read this evening detailed going through all the files from 2010 to pick the Best of the Best.  Not a bad idea and one that I may adopt and put into place after the New Year.  For now, though, I've already picked 2 of my favorites from the year and they both are shown above.  The image of Jackson Lake and the Grand Tetons is one of my favorite images of all time and from a purely photographic standpoint it is probably one of the 10 best images I've ever created.  Recently it was selected by my fellow employees to be on the cover of a calendar put together by my employer.  Because my image was selected, the proceeds from sales of the calendar will go to the charity of my choice, Special Olympics of Colorado.  (It's not available to the public but if you'd like to spend $5 on a decent calendar and know your money is going to a good cause, let me know.)  But that's not why I chose it as one of my favorites.  The other image of a sunset taken in the desert near Queen Creek, AZ is probably not as technically good.  If I weren't so lazy I would go into Photoshop and clone out the jet contrails in the sky and I'll get that done soon but for now, I love the image just the way it is.  Here's the story on both.....

My daughter, Heather, is a wonderful young woman.  She's a Special Needs kid and part of the reason I selected SOCO for my charity is because of her history competing in Special Olympics. Before heading off to Roswell, NM to attend college a few years ago, Heather was 8 times defending State Champion in Special Olympics gymnastics and it was a wonderful experience for her so naturally, I'm a bit biased towards Special Olympics. 

While she was going to school in Roswell she learned many things and researched a lot of stuff and about 2 years ago she started asking me to take her to Yellowstone.  We'd been there once when she was much younger but only passing through on the way from South Dakota to San Francisco.  Well, I love Yellowstone and can always use an excuse to go so we started planning and in May, 2010 we packed up and headed north.  We spent 3 days in Yellowstone and 2 days in Grand Teton National Parks and saw some amazing things.  Mostly, though, the company was wonderful and being able to show Heather the parks for the first time was very special to me.  Creating a wonderful image like this one was a bonus.

The desert sunset came to be in a similar manner.  When my oldest daughter, Erin, and her family lived here in Colorado we got to spend a lot of time with granddaughter Katrina.  We were built in babysitters nearly every weekend and saw her several times each week.  It nearly tore my heart out when they moved to Arizona but it was a good move for the kids and they really love living there.  That was 6 years ago and Katrina is now 10 years old going on 11 and quite the young lady.  Naturally, I try to visit as often as I can which is not nearly as much as I'd like but being a seamhead (baseball fan) I take advantage of the situation and almost every year make a trip to AZ in March to spend time with my girls and see some Rockies spring training games.  This year I made that pilgrimage and one afternoon when I was heading out to San Tan Mountain Park to photograph a sunset I asked Katrina if she'd like to go.  To my delight she said yes so we took off.  We talked about a lot of stuff and took a short hike to which led us to the image you see.  It's probably not the most technically perfect image I've ever created but I have a new hiking buddy and who knows...I may even turn her into a photographer like Poppaw! 

So there you have it...my two favorite images of 2010.  The images are nice, the trips were great, and the company was exceptional.  Not bad!