Elvis, Yoda, test pilot and mime share sugar cookie photo op
Happy New Year! I am confident of a drama-free and pleasant first 20 days of 2017. After that, however there are no guarantees. The 2016 US presidential election results, perhaps caused by a genetic experiment that replaced many voters’ objectivity gene with an outrage gene, make it certain that the coming year will be full of drama and bluster.
On a much happier note, Christmas is a great time for family togetherness. We, The Martin Family, are quite simply ‘great’. Our rich holiday history is filled with tradition and joyous times. Things like Christmas sugar cookies. As is usual, Nazy made a batch..
Author interrupt: “A batch?” I asked. “Don’t we usually make a double batch?”
… made ‘a’ batch. Everyone shared in icing the cookies which Nazy then insisted on sharing with random people.
“Random people, Dan?” Nazy interrupts. “I shared with our children, their children and their spouses.”
“Perhaps ‘random’ was a poor wording choice,” I replied. “Random wasn’t the issue,” I thought. “Sharing was my complaint.”
After everyone had a sugar cookie, Nazy hid the (small) remaining amount.
Christmas is also the time that we take the annual family photograph.We usually have a theme. Among other things, we’ve done ‘black and white’, “all purple”, “scarves”, ‘red’ and Victorian. We’ve done indoors and outdoors. This year, at Melika’s suggestion, we decided to utilize the vast costume closet at her house on Nirvana Road.
Tiger quickly decided that he wanted to be Yoda. Arrow was the baby lion in The Lion King. Tom was a test pilot and Melika a mime. Darius was Elvis Presley …
“… and it wasn’t easy making a choice, Dad.” Dar claimed.
“I think it was an excellent choice. You’re a natural.”
“The problem wasn’t deciding who to be, the problem was deciding which of Tom’s 7 Elvis costumes to choose.” ”Yes, can see how that would be a problem.”
I think that Nazy was some kind of circus performer, and Christiane was a greek goddess. I’m not sure what Mitra chose, but it looked really cool. In fact, the end result was dramatic:
In preparation for the AEA meeting, Darius was hurrying to complete a finance paper. It was challenging because…
“I’m having problems with my computer, Dad.” He explained.
“Really?”
“Yes. When I turn it on the “W” key stays pressed — I can’t turn it off.”
“That’s strange,” I replied. “For me, it was the ‘M’ key and it happened right after I spilled a glass of coca cola into the keyboard,” I thought.
“Maybe the problem was caused by the coffee I spilled in the keyboard,” Darius responded.
“Could be,” I replied. “Coke = ‘M-key’; Coffee = ‘W-key’,” I thought. “When this happened to me, I used an external keyboard.” “I just happen to have a spare keyboard.” I said.
“You know a lot about this, Dad.”
“I am a professional, Dar.” I replied. “And a bit of a klutz,” I thought.
Unfortunately, the spare Swiss-German keyboard, lacked a ‘#” key.
“You have a ‘#’ in your password?” I asked incredulously.
“Let’s go to Staples and get an American keyboard,” Darius replied.
On the New Year weekend, Nazy and I got to watch the grandest sons — Arrow and Tiger. Arrow is growing fast: according to Nazy, he’s eating (a little) solid food. (I’m not sure that I’m willing to call diluted rice cereal ‘solid food’.) He’s also reaching, grasping, cooing, gurgling, smiling and making his desires known. He really enjoys playing with Nazy. (She’s had a lot of practice.)
On a much happier note, Christmas is a great time for family togetherness. We, The Martin Family, are quite simply ‘great’. Our rich holiday history is filled with tradition and joyous times. Things like Christmas sugar cookies. As is usual, Nazy made a batch..
Author interrupt: “A batch?” I asked. “Don’t we usually make a double batch?”
… made ‘a’ batch. Everyone shared in icing the cookies which Nazy then insisted on sharing with random people.
“Random people, Dan?” Nazy interrupts. “I shared with our children, their children and their spouses.”
“Perhaps ‘random’ was a poor wording choice,” I replied. “Random wasn’t the issue,” I thought. “Sharing was my complaint.”
After everyone had a sugar cookie, Nazy hid the (small) remaining amount.
Christmas is also the time that we take the annual family photograph.We usually have a theme. Among other things, we’ve done ‘black and white’, “all purple”, “scarves”, ‘red’ and Victorian. We’ve done indoors and outdoors. This year, at Melika’s suggestion, we decided to utilize the vast costume closet at her house on Nirvana Road.
Tiger quickly decided that he wanted to be Yoda. Arrow was the baby lion in The Lion King. Tom was a test pilot and Melika a mime. Darius was Elvis Presley …
“… and it wasn’t easy making a choice, Dad.” Dar claimed.
“I think it was an excellent choice. You’re a natural.”
“The problem wasn’t deciding who to be, the problem was deciding which of Tom’s 7 Elvis costumes to choose.” ”Yes, can see how that would be a problem.”
I think that Nazy was some kind of circus performer, and Christiane was a greek goddess. I’m not sure what Mitra chose, but it looked really cool. In fact, the end result was dramatic:
The Family - 2016
By the way, this wasn't the first time we'd gone the 'costume' route. Melika claimed that the Swiss photo (below) made her look like she weighed 500 pounds.
Darius is preparing for the AEA (American Economic Association) meeting in Chicago at the beginning of the year. While he worked, Christiane had time for a shopping expedition to the Premium Outlets in Camarillo. I was invited to tag along so that I could watch Tiger while the girls shopped. Tiger was very good and very inventive. A four year old girl wanted to play hide and seek with him and Tiger agreed. (The four year old was very fast and pretty crafty.) After Tiger found her, she asked:
“Would you like to be my friend?”
“Dan is my friend.” Tiger responded.
In preparation for the AEA meeting, Darius was hurrying to complete a finance paper. It was challenging because…
“I’m having problems with my computer, Dad.” He explained.
“Really?”
“Yes. When I turn it on the “W” key stays pressed — I can’t turn it off.”
“That’s strange,” I replied. “For me, it was the ‘M’ key and it happened right after I spilled a glass of coca cola into the keyboard,” I thought.
“Maybe the problem was caused by the coffee I spilled in the keyboard,” Darius responded.
“Could be,” I replied. “Coke = ‘M-key’; Coffee = ‘W-key’,” I thought. “When this happened to me, I used an external keyboard.” “I just happen to have a spare keyboard.” I said.
“You know a lot about this, Dad.”
“I am a professional, Dar.” I replied. “And a bit of a klutz,” I thought.
Unfortunately, the spare Swiss-German keyboard, lacked a ‘#” key.
“You have a ‘#’ in your password?” I asked incredulously.
“Let’s go to Staples and get an American keyboard,” Darius replied.
On the New Year weekend, Nazy and I got to watch the grandest sons — Arrow and Tiger. Arrow is growing fast: according to Nazy, he’s eating (a little) solid food. (I’m not sure that I’m willing to call diluted rice cereal ‘solid food’.) He’s also reaching, grasping, cooing, gurgling, smiling and making his desires known. He really enjoys playing with Nazy. (She’s had a lot of practice.)
Have a wonderful 2017…
For last week's letter, click here
The Fab Five
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