Christmas 2009

(Pop's Christmas tree)
It was another awesome Christmas in Middletown. Christian and Masha made a last minute (for then a 14 hour trip in the truck) decision to make the trip (they'd had a work conflict) and Uncle Bill and Aunt Martha were overjoyed and so happy to see them. Aunt Martha leaned over to me at one point and said, 'now it's Christmas'.
I know I already posted this image, but it was the first one I made after all the hugs were given and our huge smiles had become grins and we could finally talk again. Here are Christian and Masha reacting to something that Uncle Bill said.
Here's Christian with his wedding ring on and looking great.
Masha is the jewel of the family. She's bright and beautiful and just so lovely to be around. On the annoying side though, she loves to the the New York Times crossword puzzles and usually finishes them. English is her second language and it's so damn frustrating that she zips through them , and I can't even get through them and they're written in my native language. GRR!!! I want to kick her right in her big brains for being so bright! Hahahah, I adore her! (I don't really want to kick you, I'm just amazed by your language capacity!)
hahaha, last year, it was Aunt Martha with her broken arm, this year, it was Masha and her hand that she'd had surgery on. Written in big letters on her palm it says 'LEFT' hahaha, how comforting to know that the person about to perform delicate surgery on you doesn't know they're R from L... hmm...
oh hahhaa, both Uncle Bill and Masha are Engineers, so of course, Uncle Bill had to check out her stitches to make sure they were uniform, these two have a language of their own sometimes that makes Uncle Bill just beam!
I love this picture. Uncle Bill could just not stand to be away from his family even for the few minutes it would take to shave in the bathroom. So, here are Christian (with a toothpick), and Masha talking to Aunt Martha and Uncle Bill in the background of the kitchen shaving away. Hahaha, I love my family.
Ha, I turned around and caught them goofing off, which becomes much funnier a few frames later when you see Kurt and Heather. It's coming.
I love this picture of Masha. She really does look like a Russian Princess, which is what Uncle Bill calls her. She's just lovely, and Christian could not have made a better match for himself.
Christmas Eve we went back to Kurt and Heather's place to open up the presents they bought for each other. Here's their tree.
Before they started, I made them stand for a portrait. In the flurry of getting out of WV at 6am with Scotty, Christmas Eve morning, and packing to move to the little blue house and having to buy all my Christmas gifts this year because I didn't have time to make any, I forgot to pack my flash. UGH!!!!! So, my and my ailing D200 and my fixed 50, 1.4 lens had to make due with really low lighting, all weekend long... Sigh, when I got back to WV, I got online and ordered a D300. YAY, for less noise. (Noise is when there's not enough light in your exposure, and the image looks grainy)
Bahhaha, I told them to act natural, because even though the image above is nice, it's just so normal.. I like this one more!
And, brothers will be brothers... it's funny that both brothers enjoy eating their wives, while "acting naturally'. Hahaha, oh men...
this is one of my favorite images of the weekend. Hahaha! so this is what happens when I'm pulled in tight for a portrait. It's so great. The lights, the intimacy, and we always end up with smiling faces... I love this picture for being the rest of the moment.
oh man, FAT SALLY LOVES CHRISTMAS. She was a fat submarine making tunnels through the wrapping paper sea. We'd rustle our fingertips lightly over the tops of the papers and she'd come barreling through the papers to erupt out of them and try to eat our hands with her eyes lit up with crazy.
The next morning we went back to Aunt Martha and uncle Bill's for Christmas morning. Asher, not the daintiest creature in the universe, weighing in at a buck 17, sat himself in front of the tree and would not be budged. I think he and Uncle Bill have a lot in common! They just can't be away from the family (hmm, I think I have a lot in common with them too!)
One of the highlights of the year's Christmas gifts was this vest. The story of this vest was that in the 70's, both Uncle Bill and Aunt Martha had motorcycles. One year Aunt Martha had this vest made in Greenwich Village for Uncle Bill and after he stopped wearing it, they saved it for which ever son wanted to wear it... well... there were no takers. So, this year, Masha gave Christian a pocket watch for Christmas and she wanted to surprise him. Well, where does a pocket watch go? Why on a vest of course, and didn't Aunt Martha bring out the lonely leather vest as a small trick. So, Christian opens his gift and out comes the vest. He was a little in shock, but not wanting to be rude, he made a bright face and put it on, thanking Masha and looking at it curiously until he said, Um,do I recognize this vest? Everyone laughed as he vogued and then he opened his real gift
and the watch was really beautiful.
and Uncle Bill took in the moment, like we all did... warm house, coffee on the stove, family surrounding you, so much hard work put in to be able to buy these little tokens that are and will become so meaningful. I love the winter holidays.
so Christian's gift to Masha was next. We all had to hold her gifts while she unwrapped them, which was really silly and fun. I don't know what she said to him, but he's just so relaxed and easy around her.
Oh Christmas diamond earrings from her husband, that lucky girl!!
Hahaha!! They look good girl! Wear them well!
another great one was that Kurt got a driver. The club is a monster, but even more of a monster was the pile of clothes to the left of Kurt, that was Aunt Martha's Christmas booty stash... hahahah she's going to be warm this winter!!
I had no idea that Kurt even enjoyed golf, but apparently he's a budding golfer. I love his intensity. He checked that thing over and weighed it and shook his booty to get it into the proper swinging place... it was fun.
Heather spent the morning with her family and came over later and Scotty followed shortly after. Aunt Martha got him a sweater (red gray and black) that I assume I'll see him wearing all the time. it was so perfectly Scotty!! All through the weekend and as we were leaving, Scotty would lean over to me and say, 'your family is so amazing! I feel like I've been a part of it forever, I feel like I'm related, how do they do that?' hahaha, I don't know Scotty, but I feel the same way. I love them something awful!!
Once we were done with gifts and breakfast, we suddenly realized that we were going to be way late to visit with Jack and Julie, so we panicked and starting running around like headless chickens, and finally made it out the door, after making a ham, chicken parmigiana, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, and baby carrots, showering, crying in the bathroom with a towel over our head, and the rest of the general scrambling that went on. We were an hour late... UGH!!!! Here's Uncle Bill hanging with one of Jack and Julie's hounds, Molly (I think it's Molly, they have black labs, and I've forgotten their other hound's name, so I'm going with Molly)
but once we were there, we had a great time. Jack and Julie are long time friends of the family. Kurt works at Jack's firm and Uncle Bill is their son Andrew's godfather. Here's uncle Bill and his lovely ladies.
Christian and Masha gave Heather a set of freshwater pearls for Christmas and they looked beautiful on her.
Here's a portrait of jack and Julie with Andrew. (GRR!! Who's the Jackass that forgot her flash!!) Andrew is a great kid. He's in his first year of college and everytime I'm around him, I always forget how young he is because he's just so easy going, that makes it easy to talk to him.
Scotty spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with his sisters and then came back to middletoen to spend the rest of the weekend with us. Jack and Julie invited him to hang out with us (which was so great, because Scotty is a perfect stranger to them, and it's not like he's my partner, he's just a friend whom loves my family), but they took him in like part of the family and we had a great time. Here's the boys team answering a question to the game Scene it? that we played that evening. We had 3 teams, and the boys won! Those naughty movie watching men!
haha, here are Uncle Bill and Heather doing the wave after getting one right!
and Scotty living it up!
and Aunt Martha, with a nip of Bailey's in her, and kicking some Scene it? ass! (we, Kurt, Aunt Aunt Martha, Julie and I lost, but we did so with enthusiasm)
Whenever I vist with company and have my camera, I always try to make a picture I can send with a thank you note for having me over. This is the picture I'm sending to Jack and Julie.
HHHHhahahahah!! What do you mean, James Bond, Dr. Who? what was the question again? I can't believe I got the answer wrong!
And now we get to Boxing Day and the pig nose project which has run rampant in NY while I've been away! Here's Jeannie with the Pig that she and Aunt Martha found for me, along with his glasses that Billy found. So, I've already blogged about the pig nose project, but if you missed it, here it is again on the old blog
http://hfstonehouse.blogspot.com/2009/10/pig-nose-project.html
Anyhoo, everyone got such a kick out of it, they asked me to bring it back this Christmas (which unfortunately I packed it up and couldn't find it, LAME!!) but anyhoo, so for my gift this year, they got me the pig and his nose (his human nose, Hahahahahahah!!!), a book about how to throw a pig a party and an album that they put together that includes Mr. Pig in various parts of the house, hanging out on the pool table, drinking whiskey with a friend, in the oven!! Hahaha, when I opened u[ the photo album I just about died with laughter!!! it was so thoughtful and silly!! SO PERFECT! Mr. Pig is now sitting on top of my bookcase watching me and holding the photo album. Hahaha, pig nose.
Saturday night, we all gathered at Uncle Bill and Aunt Martha's again. Heather's hair is getting LONG! Heather also has one of my favorite smiles, it lights up her whole face. Chris and her new boyfriend Brent came over as well as Mandi. We sat around laughing and eating pizza.
Dude, when Uncle Bill gets to laughing, it's really hard to 1- not laugh along just as hard with him, 2- do anything else, his laugh is so infectious. It feels good, just looking at this picture.
UGH! if I hadn't fucked this picture to the moon, it would have been so awesome. I did a ton of post production including noise reduction, double sharpening and then a freaking surface blur to make it passable. What a douche I am!! Anyhoo, I looked over and there they were, just so intimate in a room full of people, and I just missed the mark, and it's the only one I made like it. Anyhoo, so excuse the image and just feel the moment. Hahaha, Kurt looks like he has wooden puppet hands. (sigh...)
So, here's Mandi laughing at my brother Larry. Larry was on a tear that evening. he was the storryteller, the way Pop used to be. He was pulling memories out of his brain like a movie and the whole room had tears in their eyes as Larry spun out his tales.
and look at Scotty just soaking it in... I've become so used to these magical moments, that I just shoot through them and laugh along with them, and feel the love, but to someone whom hasn't had the full force of the Cunningham family (and all the marriages into and out of it, that will remain nameless so internet weirdo's don't show up at your houses wanting to have fun too) tornado visited up them, it's truly something to behold.
hahaha, back to the pig nose project, Aunt Martha gave Chris a picture of the two of them at Mandi's wedding when Chris was wearing the pig nose, life of it's own, I tell you! hahaha!!
Chris and Brent, listening to Larry. This was my first time meeting Brent and he was nice. Military, very quiet, but the way that Chris looked at him felt right to me. I'm sure when he's not in a room full of howling people that he'd have more to say too, so very quiet may not be an accurate description.
They look good together, and more importantly, Chris looks very happy, happier than over the summer, and that's so good! Oh, and I love Brent's moustache. I made a comment about it and Chris about fell on the floor and died! Hahaha, but it's true, he's got a huge and impressive moustache, not everyone can grow something like that between their nose and upper lip. I'm impressed!
and here is my brother, going to town, spinning them out, pulling perfect snapshots from his memory including names, nicknames, old stores that no longer exist and street names that have been mall parking lots, he's got them all stored up there... it's amazing! And he's fuuuunny!!!
he is THIS funny!! Uncle Bill was so red in the face from laughter at points I thought he was going to pass out!
look at him go, all those memories and the expressions on his face, and the joy that filled the room... ugh, it was incredible.
Sunday, as we were saying our goodbyes and having coffee (and beers) my nephew Danny came by to visit. He's a handsome young man, and similar to Andrew, he's got this presence that belies his youth. He also gives off a feeling of wanting to make you comfortable. Whenever I sit with him, I want to be his friend. I know I'm his Aunt so I'll always be his friend, but I want him to talk to me, open up to me... I don't know what it is, I can't pinpoint it, but there's something about him that makes me probe him, pepper him with questions that I don't normally do with people, even those whom are related to me. Hahaha, mostly because those whom are related to me are an awful hen nest of gossips, and I love them dearly for it!!
Anyhoo, Danny brought his guitar with him and sat on the porch serenading us with tunes as I made a billion images of him. I like this one, because it's our portrait, I'm in the mirror hunched over my camera.
I like this one too, and I can't tell if I like it more when he's smiling or not...
This one is my hands down favorite one of him from the afternoon though. He is a handsome young man, and would be a ladykiller if he ever felt like being one. Hopefully though he'll just sample the shapes and colors and find someone worth his creativity and talent. He's 19, so hopefully that won't be anytime soon. Damn he's a good kid!

Well, that was Christmas in Middletown. I'm always sorry to leave, and I'm always planning my next trip up... this year it will be different though, 12 more months and I won't have to plan anymore, I'll already be there... I cannot wait!
cannot wait...
Cheers!!