Christmas in March!

Sistahs!

What I mean with that title is that in the midst of my ridiculously busy schedule as a staff writer at the Mammoth Times - making a fraction of what I'm worth but nonetheless grateful for the pennies that flow in - I've just now gotten around to downloading the Christmas shots. I thought I'd better get that done before the first of April tomorrow!

So that's me in the bunny hat with my sisters (identical twins, for anyone who hasn't noticed or didn't know) taken during one of many joyful moments last Christmas at my sister Carolyn's home in Astoria, Oregon. Bunny hat comes from Elevation Mountaineering store in Lone Pine and is perfect for really cold winter days. I gave a ladybug one to Cindy for Christmas (she doesn't know I also bought one for myself).

Below is one of the ole yuletide with golden retrievers Friday (left, Cindy's dog) and Maddie (right, Carlo's dog) in front. Cindy's other dog Rufus also joined us, but somehow I don't have any shots of the sweet canine guy.


Often, I spend Christmas on my own, not wanting to travel in the madness and weather, but this year it seemed appropriate with so many changes in the air - my niece about to graduate high school and my nephew in his senior year at UCLA. Many roads were forking into new directions at the end of 2008.

So I drove from Mammoth to Reno and from there flew to Portland. We in the family thought I'd be the one who'd have trouble getting from my outpost home in Mammoth to the Reno Airport 150 miles north because of the major winter storms happening at the time. Instead, I made it up there in my Bronco without any trouble at all, and it was Cindy and my mom who faced a cancelled flight from Portland from Burbank - and virtually no other options because everything was booked solid. They rented a car and drove the 22 hours north - with two dogs in tow. I told Cindy to get chains - which she needed at the Oregon border. I'm turning into a regular winter regular here in Mammoth! "Always carry chains."

It was all worth the effort in the end, though. I'd say it was one of the happiest and loviest Christmases in recent memory.

So here is a photo of my nephew, Erik, as his grandmother takes a photo of his joy at receiving her $100 gift certificate to In-n-Out burger, his favorite place!



A deliciously lazy moment on the couch with Carolyn (left) as I dive into the "Private Diaries of Catherine Deneuve," a very thoughtful and appropriate gift from Cynthia who always gets it right with me and books. She uncovered this gem at Book Soup on Sunset Boulevard - one of the few things I miss terribly about Los Angeles!




Erik has taken over a portion of Grandma's sumptuous spa package gift from Cindy. The robe is on her lap, but Erik has decided to don the hair piece!



That's my beautiful niece Katie showing off the pair of earrings I gave her for Christmas. (I also gave her a Ralph Lauren down jacket with a fur-lined hood, but I'm not sure she liked that as much!).


And here's Katie with a classic comic face as her father, my brother in law Peter, opens the traditional gag gift featuring cats. Peter detests cats. Here, it's a cat calendar. In the past I believe he has also received cat astrology books.



And here's one of Cynthia, exuberant over Katie's charcoal rendering of Hillary Clinton - Cynthia's heroine for all time! Did I say that my niece is as talented as she is beautiful? For my birthday in February, she conjured up a brilliant charcoal of Jerry Garcia.



Now here's an archetypal photo of the twins. I can't believe my mother actually gave them identical sweaters for the first time in probably 30 years! The Santa hat distinguishes Cynthia from Carolyn, but I've always been able to tell the Taurus brats apart!



Much later in the day, or maybe the next day: I am still reading Catherine Deneuve's thoughts on life, characters, and film, this time on the white couch near the window with the great view out over Columbia River and Astoria.