As usual, I went way overboard taking pictures over Christmas. Perhaps fortunately, many of the shots didn't come out, usually due to low light. Some of the ones I liked the best, composition-wise, fell into this category. Maybe it's time for a better camera, or for judicious use of the flash. That caused problems this time, too, though, with the usual glasses glare and red eye situations. The photo editor I used doesn't seem to have an automatic facility to fix such things, and I'm certainly not artistic enough to pull it off believeably. Ok, enough griping.

Let's start off with some pics of friends. I forgot the camera at one get-together (sorry, Ed), but these others are ok. The first is Pam and Jim, two folks from the lunch bunch I used to work with. It was a bit amazing how quickly we fell back into the old routine - very fun. The 2nd and 3rd are of Dave, another former co-worker and blading buddy in Fort Wayne. He's a star of stage and screen now, having just finished a stage musical version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. No, it's not just the usual song & dance they do at the movie.
I'm a little at a loss as to how to organize all these... I'll start with the gifts I gave on Xmas day. To the right are the pics of what I got my folks. My mom I got a necklace from an artist in the Salt Lake gallery stroll. I put it in a Norton Antivirus box, mainly because I wanted to put it in a box, but also because I thought it'd be funny. It was. Yes, I'm a bad son. I got my dad a fleece from the Idaho Steelheads, the Boise hockey team.	Note the grin...
	This row has the "horror of Christmas" gifts. My brother got a game of Zombies, and Tasha got a plush Santa Cthulhu. He's green. Don't ask. Yes, I'm a bad brother and brother-in-law.
		I got my older niece, Caitlyn, a copy of Rush Hour Jr., a game by Binary Arts. It's a great brain-teaser for kids. Yes, I'm a good uncle. Sometimes, at least. Madison got an outfit from me, which you'll see later.
Ok, how about a couple of pictures of trees? That's Christmasy, for sure. The one on the immediate right is the "official" tree, while the one on the far right was the temporary stand-in.
	Caitlyn was kind enough to take a couple of pictures of her dad & I playing foosball after dinner. I got roasted. And then he snuck off without a rematch. Sheesh.
Getting very lazy now... here are some pictures of people getting other gifts.
	On the left is Sean relaxing in a chair near the tree; on the right, Sean relaxing while getting a massage. Good deal.
		Here are a couple of shots of my folks' house in the rural wilds of Indiana. I would've gone to get other angles, but I was afraid I'd fall through the snow and never be heard from again. No, it wasn't really that deep, but it took some shovelling. Below are a couple of shots of one of the cats, and one of the path in the woods.
Here are two shots with Caitlyn & Madison in them, with me in the second.
	On the left are Sean and Tasha snuggling. On the right, Xmas dinner. On the next line are three shots from the Joseph Decuis restaurant in Roanoke, Indiana. If you're like me and don't know how to pronounce it, it's kind of like duh-KWEEZ.
Here are two quick pics of Caitlyn and me that my mom shot. The first, with tongues out, is the real us. The second is when we're behaving, mostly.
	On the left is Caitlyn helping set up a game of "MojoJojo Attacks Townsville", which she handily won. That laser just isn't near accurate enough. On the right is Madison in her new outfit, with a cap that doesn't quite fit, though it's funny enough.
Finally, the crew settles down to watch some tube. The far shot sure looks sisterly to me. That's how it's supposed to be.

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