Tis the Season for Family and Friends

S' Uncle Harold, S, Cousin Miles, Cousins Ward and Cal, Aunt Sug, Cousin Ann and Me.
Cousin Lynn took the photo.

Last weekend we spent a good bit of time with family and friends. On Saturday, we had lunch with some of S's relatives at Toulouse - his aunt, uncle, cousin and her boys and her sister, his cousin and her husband. Got that?

Ann and Me
(Lynn was the photographer-I forgot the purse camera was on 1600 ISO.)

One of those said cousins lives out of town. People coming in from out of town make those of us in town get together - it works nicely. It was great to see them and catch up. The food and the company were first rate.

Pizza dough.

Saturday night, our good friends Marcia and Eddie were in town from Austin, and Tricia came over too - Wayne was out of town.

Toppings.

We had some of S's homemade pizza, watched the awful Cowboys game and visited.

Salad.

S making the focaccia bread.

Tricia and Marcia.

S and Eddie watching the game.
That isn't a flash staring back at us - that's our crazy lamp.

Sunday we had S's family's Christmas get together. We exchanged gifts and then we ate with some more extended relatives.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

Alexandra cleaned up...

...as you can see.

S's Nana, Anna, was up for the day.
It was so nice to see her.

Sam did not get a Fisher Price shopping cart.
In case you were wondering.

Kim looked very surprised at her gift.

Cheryl got a new cast iron pot...

...and some sunglasses.
She immediately went all "Hollywood" on us.

Mark showed off his wares.
He did not mean to flip us off.

Brooke loved this bag.

Flipped photo.
Michael was opening presents here,
so there are no photos of what he got.
I was messing with the gadget described below.

And, I got this gadget that fits on the end of your lens. It allows you to photograph people 90 degrees from where you're actually pointing the lens so you can capture people "candidly." It also, as I can see from these photos, flips the image - like a mirror - to be backwards to reality.

See here - S and Anna, his Nana, did not change places.
Scroll up - this one was taken with the new gadget.

S's Uncle Larry and his wife Kimberly arrived in this festive auto.

Uncle Larry and S.
S looks nothing like his relatives, does he?

The holiday table - Italian style.

S's Aunt Sis and Uncle Jim...

...and Uncle Larry and Kimberly.

S and me in front of his parent's tree.
I'm sporting the "angry bush woman" hairstyle.
And, apparently, neither of us have seen the sun for weeks.

I hope you're going to have some time with family and friends in the coming days. Best wishes for memorable occasions!