Family Tree

Being out-of-state, we miss a lot of the hoopla that comes with being part of such a large extended family. On our last trip, over New Year's Eve, we packed all sorts of family time in.

We spent the better part of a day with the big Garber clan: my dad's aunts and uncles and cousins, et al. I forget the insane number of members our family now boasts, but there's a bunch of us. And scads of kids. I love spending time with them...it only happens once or twice a year. The thing is, when you're family, even if you don't really know each other that well, you're still family. It's just something that you can feel, an understanding. It's history.

And the food at these things...well, that's a whole 'nother post.

While everyone was together, we took the opportunity to celebrate my Grandpa's 80th birthday. What a treat, to be a part of that.

Is this one handsome 80-year-old dude, or what?
He still regularly schools some of my cousins in raquetball.

Every year, I try to get a picture of Calvin with my Uncle Calvin. We did not name him after Uncle Calvin, per se, but he is definitely a worthy namesake. He is a farmer out in remote Kansas and he is a good man.

Immediately following this shot, Calvin (Jr.) asked Cory if every Calvin has a big beard when they grow up.

Cory received extended ribbing on account of his graying Christmas-tradition beard. Uncle Calvin asked him if he had "talcum powder" (his exact words) in it. We captured this shot so that we can do a fair comparison next year.

Cory tried and tried and tried to get a shot of Brooke and Ruby together in their pretty church coats, but they were never in synch. He didn't get a single shot where they were both looking into the camera. He cropped one of them, though, and got this:

I could just eat her right up.