Christmas Day: It's gone now, but I remain stuffed and full, blessed with wealth, even in tight times

The preparations had been going on for quite awhile by now, but I had not been ambitious enough to take a picture. After Margie baked these cookies, Charlie did some artistic decorating. Lisa was amused.

Out in the living room, the good black cat Jim stepped into the shadow to eat tinsel and study the gifts that waited under the tree.

Charlie takes a picture of his cookie artwork as Melanie, Lavina and Margie keep on cooking.

As I take a picture of Charlie's artwork, Jacob reaches in to begin destroying it.

Kalib is impatient and tugs at his mom. No, they did not stay here last night. They drove out in their pajamas.

Many gifts were given. Lavina gave Jacob a new electric razor.

I gave Lisa a framed picture of her buddy, Juniper.

Margie gave me the pig. I gave her the salt and pepper shakers. We were both very pleased.

And here is a camera that Margie and I gave to Rex. He is going to Seattle next week to hang out with his buddy and he will need to take some pictures.

Charlie with a little, cast-iron, bird that I gave him.

Caleb got some tires with snow studs for his bike.

Kalib opens up a gift from his Uncle Caleb. Uncle Caleb was born with a magnificent artistic talent, but he has never come around to harnessing it. A good uncle teaches his nephew, so maybe they can help each other.

Charlie blessed the food. It was an unconventional blessing, but he said he was glad to be part of this family. We are glad, too. I took no more dinner pictures after this, because I was too busy eating.

Kalib feeds turkey to his buddy, Royce.

Later, we came back to the table to eat pie and fruit goup.

As good as it was to be together, to exchange gifts and to eat, the day still came pierced by a huge hole. If it is a little hard to read at this size, the words on Rex's shirt say, "Table for one."

It is still a big and painful mystery to all of us why Stephanie up and walked out, but she did and there is nothing to be done about it. Rex has asked us all to think of her kindly and lovingly.

Rex left first, to go meet his buddy, Eddie, who now lives in Seattle but is also in Wasilla to visit his family.

I never stepped outside today. Just before they all left, I laid down upon the couch and was soon covered by a cat blanket. I normally step out onto the porch to wave goodbye to everybody as they leave, but I was too sleepy and these cats felt too good.

So, one by one, the departers came to the couch to give me a hug, then they all went out the door and drove away. I stayed put on the couch for a very long time.

Guess what? Kalib turns two December 26 - hey! That's today! - so, after we get some sleep, we will all gather together again.

I pass by a lady Santa on a horse; the new house gets torn up a bit with Kalib in the middle; Jacob is named Employee of the Year by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

Today, as I was driving out of Wasilla to go to Anchorage, I saw a woman on horseback, wearing a Santa hat. It was a beautiful, wonderful day for a horseback ride, with the temperature at that moment four degrees above zero.

I continued on to Anchorage through what was another hoarfrosty day.

Someone had slid off the road.

As you can see, things are changing inside Jacob, Lavina and Kalib's new home. I told you that Lavina did not like that old rug. Kalib went about the business of taking measurements for the new one.

Kalib looks through the window as Melanie arrives to help.

Rex seals off the tracks for the track lights in preparation for tomorrow's spray painting. There was some discussion about whether those track lights should go or stay, because they do look kind of strange.

Yet, as a photographer, I could see a use for such lights.

Once again, Kalib got to feeling worn down and a bit cranky.

So Grandma took him into what I believe will be his bedroom once he gets a little older. There, she made him sweep the floor.

That cheered him right up.

He also enjoyed watching some Cars animation on Caleb's iPhone.

After that, Lavina and I headed over to the Denaina Center, where the 1800 people who work with Jacob at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium were having their Christmas party. Jacob is still in Washington, DC, so he couldn't be there.

We came very late but still just a little bit early and so they sat us down at one of the many tables and fed us halibut and a chocolate desert that was very tasty.

At the next table, I saw this lady concentrating on her phone.

This is why Lavina and I came, even though Jacob was not here. ANTHC gave out seven Employee of the Year awards. Jacob was named Employee of the Year in engineering.

Lavina accepted his award for him. They said that Jacob gets along with everybody that he works with, and with all the people in the villages that he travels to oversee the installation of sewer projects where there has never been sewer projects before and where, what with permafrost and all, conditions can be extremely challenging.

They especially praised him for his work in the Yup'ik village of Quigillingok and said that wherever he goes, he understands the peoples and cultures and works good with them all.

They said more after that, too, but I lost it because I was trying to figure out how to photograph Lavina receiving his award.

It was kind of tough, but this what I came up with.

Lavina with Jacob's awards, outside, on the way back to the car, beneath a hoarfrosted tree. The soapstone figure with the ivory face is an Eskimo dancer.

He also got $1000 - but, as he is now a Lieutenant in the Commission Corps, that check has to be sent to the federal government and they may or may not decide to let him keep it.

Sarah runs out of gas, picks up her hockey stick; Mr. Dodd Shay blows the snow away; Rex and Kalib play with train, eat pie

As I walked today, I saw this girl, sitting still in the road on her four-wheeler, going nowhere, holding her hockey stick. I wondered why. "I ran out of gas," she told me.

I wasn't carrying any gas so I could not help her, but I could take her picture. Her name is Sarah, she is 14 years old and she plans to start playing hockey very soon. "At school?" I asked.

"I think I'm going to join a girl's league team," she answered.

Or did she say, "city league?" I'm pretty sure she said "girl's league." I suppose that I probably shouldn't quote her if I am not absolutely certain what her words were.

But then, it's not all that unusual for a blogger to get a quote a little bit wrong. I don't think that I got it wrong, I think I got it right. But I'm not 100 percent certain.

And don't worry. She had a cell phone. Her gas was coming.

A little further down the road I saw Dodd Shay blowing the snow off his driveway.

When he got to the end of his driveway, he turned around and started going back. His black dog kept coming. In fact, the dog followed me for a short distance. It wanted to keep following me, but it got worried that it was getting too far from from home, so it turned around and went back.

A white poodle awaited it. Yes, I photographed the poodle, too, but today I will make you use imagination, if you want to see it. I won't tell you if it was tall or short, or what color its collar was or if its fur was groomed or how. Use your imagination - see what kind of white poodle you can create to go with this black dog.

Snowmachine tracks cross a well-scraped road.

I needed something besides turkey, so I drove to Taco Bell and passed by Wasilla Lake. Snow blew off the lake, but it wasn't bad.

Rex returned to Anchorage from Homer, where he did lots of thinking. In the evening, he came out and, Taco Bell notwithstanding, we all did a Thanksgiving retake and ate more turkey. Afterward, Margie asked if we were ready for pie.

We weren't. I semi-dozed off on the couch to the sounds of Kalib squealing and Uncle Rex laughing (you can tell how much I got done on this task I told you about last night).

When I got up from the couch, I found the two sitting at the kitchen table, playing with the toy train engine I bought in India for about 50 cents and then brought home to Kalib.

Finally, we were ready for pie.

Our Thanksgiving Day, 2009

Not long after Lisa arrived for Thanksgiving, Jacob began to treat her just like he did when she was a little girl and he was a big boy.

Lisa's boyfriend Bryce, who is deeply allergic to cats and dogs, came too, of course.

Lisa and Bryce.

Needless to say, the other boyfriend, Melanie's, Charlie, showed up as well. Soon, he engaged Kalib in a game of "Peek-a-Roo." Here, he sings out, "peek-a..."

"...Roo!" That's because we sometimes call Royce, "Royce-a-Roo." Naturally, that sometimes gets shortened to just "Roo." Hence, the game of "Peek-a-Roo." 

Kalib was greatly pleased with the game.

When I get time, or just take time, I will let Grahamn Kracker post more of this game - and other cat activities from the day - on his No Cats Allowed blog.

Lavina and her feet.

Lisa and Bryce pour the punch.

Kalib comes to the table.

Setting the table. Traditionally, I am the one who cooks the turkey, but, somehow, Margie cooked two of them today. I still cut it up. See that pumpkin chiffon pie? Melanie made that from a recipe that originated with my late mother. It is the best pumpkin pie in the world.

Melanie also made some cranberry sauce out of cranberries she picked herself.

Sooooo goood!

And she made a walnut pie. Margie tells me it is excellent, but so far I have found no room for it in my tummy.

I will try it tomorrow.

As baby Kalib peeks down from a picture on the cabinet door, the feasting begins. I have no more pictures of it, because I was too busy feasting. Please note the state of Caleb's facial hair. 

Readers who have been with this blog - and especially those who visited after the excellent feast that we had last year in Anchorage at Rex and Stephanie's house - cannot help but notice that two members of the family are absent: Rex and Stephanie.

Again, I just want to give them space and not say too much, but Rex went to Homer to spend the weekend alone in a cabin contemplating life. Stephanie - well, we don't know. She no longer shares her life with us.

It is a painful and puzzling thing.

Charlie brought his guitar and gave Kalib his first-ever live concert.

Soon, under the watchful eye of Royce-a-Roo, Kalib was dancing to a tune about little fishes - a song composed just for him.

Lisa and Bryce left a bit early to go back to Anchorage to share a second Thanksgiving with Bryce's parents. A bit after that, a bunch of the rest of us crowded into the Escape and headed to Metro Cafe for a coffee break.

When we got there, Carmen told us that Lisa and Bryce had stopped on their way to town. All week long, Carmen had been telling me that the drive-through would be open from 10-7 on Thanksgiving Day, while her family would gather from all over to have dinner inside. Every day, she reminded me, and urged me to come by.

Naturally, with our bellies stuffed and us growing sleepy, such a break was essential, so we did stop by.

She prepared hot drinks for everybody, engaging us in conversation through it all. Before I could pay her, she closed the window. I thought she had forgotten, so I waved the 20 that Melanie had insisted on contributing in front of her.

Carmen opened the window just a crack, to tell us this one was on the house.

"You're a real good customer," she said.

And it was good coffee, too. It always is.

Back home, we ate the pie. Then Kalib came with the paper, looking at the Christmas ads.

So this is how it will be for the next month.

This year, I want to see if I can experience some Christmas spirit.

It was easy when I was young. Now it is hard. Despite all the promotions, Christmas tends to sneak up on me suddenly and then it is gone and I wonder if it ever happened at all.

Well, we will see.

Melanie and Charlie.

It is time for them to go, because they need to spend some Thanksgiving time with Charlie's parents. Kalib comes running to say goodbye.

Out the door they go and then they are gone. It always comes to this. Always.

I walk from the front door into the kitchen, where I find Kalib eating butter straight off the butter plate.

Kalib goes to work at 10:00 PM, beardless, but with a mustache. None of us have seen him like this before. Four of his coworkers are doing the same thing.

Maybe it is a contest, I don't know. He just needs a cowboy hat, a good pair of boots, spurs, a six-shooter and a horse. Can you imagine how sharp he would look, sitting on that horse, dressed like that, with this mustache?

Sushi birthday party

When you enter Ronnie's Sushi house in Anchorage, there is a tank full of live fish close to the door.

The girl on the left - Lisa - she is the reason we gathered here. It was her 24th birthday party. H'mmm? Did I just call her a girl? Twenty-four. That must mean she is a woman - a full-fledged, beautiful, talented, woman. But she is my little girl. She will always be my little girl. My little baby girl.

Behind her, you can barely see the forehead of her boyfriend, Bryce. Bryce's parents, Brian and Lorena, came, too, as did his little nephew, Logan.

Lisa, as photographed through my glass of water.

Margie, as photographed through my glass of water.

You will remember Ryan from Rex's birthday party. This is he and his girlfriend, Jessica, as seen through my water glass. I photographed everybody this way, including myself, and I was going to post them all, but this is enough. You get the idea.

Lisa's boyfriend, Bryce, bought this sushi boat. Margie tried to pay for it, but he got to the counter first. So Margie was going to pay for everything else - and there was quite a bit else - but Charlie beat her to it.

Well, if Charlie is going to pay for a huge portion of the dinner, then surely he should be seen through my water glass, too. Here he is. This is Charlie. It's not Dan, it's not Robert, it's not Michelle. 

It's Charlie.

He is a mighty generous and thoughtful man and he lives with a great black cat named Pizzles that Melanie rescued a few years back.

Kalib told a funny joke and everyone at that end of the table laughed. I would share the joke with you, but it was rather ribald, so I had better not.

Bryce's parents gave Lisa this Chicago Cubs hat as a birthday present.

I think that it was Jacob and Lavina who gave her this pair of shoes. I could be wrong. She got a variety of gifts and I cannot remember who gave her each one. I do know that Melanie gave her a table with a yellow top and Lisa was very pleased with it.

She and Bryce have been eating off the floor and were in need of a table.

I might exaggerate the circumstance just a little bit.

We then moved to Melanie's house for the cake and ice cream. Here is Diamond. Margie and I gave Lisa the mix-master, plus a spatula to go with it.

Jacob and Cassie.

Jessica, Kalib and Ryan.

Rex carries Lisa's birthday cake to her. Margie made the cake.

Lisa blows the candles out.

After she blows them out, the candles light right back up again. They are trick candles, that is why. Kalib is very amused by this unexpected turn of events.

It takes a great deal of blowing by multiple lungs, but, after a couple of hours, the candles had all been blown out. 

And there was a lot of spit on the frosting.

Kalib, who enjoyed his cake.

Melanie, Kalib and Rex dance.

I have a couple of friends in the hospital and I wanted to stop in and see them before we drove back to Wasilla, so Margie and I left a bit early. Kalib waves to his Grandma.

Let me note that there is a new pocket camera out now, called the G11. It is much better suited for low-light photography than is this G1O that I am using, and I have been tempted to buy it. I probably will. But right now, I hate to spend the $500.

My pro-cameras would produce much finer image quality, but I do not want to carry them to such a function. I want to carry only a pocket camera.

So I come knowing that the images will be noisy, grainy, with much motion blur, because I am shooting mostly at 1/30 and even 1/15 of a second. But I don't care. I know a lot of people do, but not me. As long as I can catch a bit of the feeling and emotion, then I am fine with the noise, the grain, and the blur.

Still, one day, in time for this year's tax returns, I will get that G11.