i didn’t even know we had anything growing still, but today we picked these carrots from our garden in the backyard.
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there was a turkey on sale. mom bought it. she brined it in a giant bucket in the fridge, and then roasted it. the family went to gfa for cleaning, and then we came home. we made sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, and broccoli. then we ate the food, and called it all the eve of new year’s eve dinner.
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jared, esther, asher, jotham, kara, and gabi came to david and charlotte’s for breakfast on Christmas day. we ate lots of yummy food. then we opened presents, and then we were just hanging around, making food and getting ready for Christmas dinner. then lots of the michnovicz’s came over and we ate more food. then mom, dad, amy, and i went on a walk, during which my ears froze. i stopped alot to take pictures, and then ran to catch up with them. we played canasta, at more food, and had a great time.
^ jared and asher
^presents!
^ this necklace and these earrings are from melissa.
^ new mexican. michnovicz. lots. good.
^ look at those good-looking mashed potatoes. and gravy, and turkey.
^ asher and gabi with cousin joanna
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including, the new mexico tea company, full of lovely loose leaf tea in canisters, at which i took no digital photos. why, you ask? because film is better. at least, film slrs are better than digital compacts.
and secondly, the boba tea company. lovely casanova smooches.
and, in that lovely part of albuquerque (by unm) there was a buffalo exchange, an urban outfitters, and a camera + darkroom store. i need to go back.
^feet
^melissa
^ at boba tea
^ the red arrow
^ and, mexican markets. like hmart, but not korean. mexican.
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my family and i are now in new mexico for christmas! we drove in yesterday, the 22nd, and tonight we will hang out with auntie steph, and tomorrow is christmas eve and the day after tomorrow is…. CHRISTMAS! and, also, it’s snowing! or was. lovely large flakes (unromantic word… how about fluffs?) falling from the sky. this clara and i woke up to uncle david making coffee, and then clara sits up and is like “look out the window! it’s snowing!” so i do, and of course, it is. and it’s beautiful! after waking up more, we bundled up and went outside. we made snow angels, and snow flowers, and a snow man. and then auntie steph drove up in her new car, which we didn’t recognize, honked at us, and we ate breakfast with her and stuff. she brought reindeer antlers, and chocolate. and then mom and dad and amy and melissa came out, and we had a lovely giant snowball fight. we all threw snowballs at dad, because he was the worst, or best, at hitting us. getting hit on the behind with a rock hard snowball hurts. but, i got him back. and when i had my little digital camera and film slr, i was immune from getting hit by snowballs. it was great.
^ this is chad, the snowman.
^ mom giving chad bunny ears
^dad threw a shovelful of snow on her.
after you have waded through that slog of words, here are some pictures for you!
^when auntie steph came, she brought reindeer antlers!
^melissa and i
^mom and dad
^amy and i
^ catching snowflakes!
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[this one is for claire.]
and now, dear readers, i shall now feature a series of posts about how to live in one’s backyard.
to start, one must have a place to sleep, such as a treehouse, or perhaps a tent. i have already featured such a post here.
next, one must have a restroom facility (fully equipped with toilet paper), like an outhouse in the corner, like my sisters and i had in our fourth-acre backyard of sand in new mexico.
one must also have a way to prepare food, such as a firepit, bonfire, or grill. the main diet of a backyard camper may consist of hotdogs, chili, hot cider, and smores.
more examples of backyard living to follow.
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i went over to play with em & jen in their massive pile of leaves. but not just jumping in it. fallling off backward into it from the swing, running around the tree and flying into the pile, diving into it. oh for a massive pile of leaves with a swing nearby. perhaps i shall migrate our leaf pile.
little girl, next door neighbor. played in the leaves too.
we had a picnic too. cider, spice tea, cookies. sitting in the leaves.
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because oatmeal is periodically made at our house for breakfast, we daughters are forced to eat it. i have endeavored to, each time, put different toppings on my oatmeal.

this time it was bananas (more bananas than oatmeal), milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, and chocolate chips.
i finished it before mom came out of the shower, so that she wouldn’t tell me not to eat chocolate for breakfast.
*the best kind of oatmeal to eat (if you must) is stone ground oats. not rolled.
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amy’s hair is very red… she put henna in it.


^amy got a huge umbrella at ikea. all big and yellow and blue with ikea on it. walking advertisement. it’s big enough to keep her and her backpack dry, as well as fit our entire family under.
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