The Finch cousins in their annual pose with the giant nutcracker; although, the wooden soldier seems to have shrunk substantially over the years! Gathered for our standard "Finch-Christmas-at-New-Years" are the Garard brothers (Ethan, Illini shirt, and Nathan, Notre Dame T), James' kiddos (Alex, Minecraft T, and Kallen, the wee little gal), and the Cluver chil'ren. We were missing only Remy and Chris' Kaelyn, a senior in college, who had to catch her flight back to Florida. Would you believe that Hunter is 1 1/2 years older than Nathan? Or that Ethan, Baylor, and Alex are the same age? Height differentials in these early adolescent years are interesting, to say the least.
One of the oldest cousins nurturing the teeniest one.
PRESENT TIME!
The "triplets" of 2002/2003 -- Ethan born to Remy in November, Alex born to James in March,
and Bay came along 5 days after Alex, also in March. 11 years ago,
there was a whole lot of pregnant at Finch gatherings.
Bay was particularly tickled with her new sewing machine from seamstress Grandma Finch. ; )
Then, the dice-rolling game for white elephant gifts ensued, and chocolate fondue, and then the kids watching "the (Times' Square) ball drop" via television. Typically, we celebrate the new year at eleven, taking advantage of the televised East Coast revelry, and this year most of us, adults, didn't even get off the upstairs couch and plush chairs to pause our conversation and venture down the stairs to the television. Instead, we left it up to the kids to conduct the armchair commentary on the televised musical acts and official countdown.
We also had professional family portraits taken, to be posted later if the photo studio allows for on-line posting. One thing we considered was having everyone hold their favorite book in the whole-clan pic, and while not everyone from our entire, extended crew had theirs in tow, I figured I'd take a "time capsule" snapshot of what our branch of the tree had selected. Can you guess which book belongs to which Cluver?
And this shot was actually taken after Christmas from our front porch in Forsyth, before we ever headed toward our Freeport New Year's. The machine shed and lamp posts make this shot less than frame-worthy, but the colors of the sky were something for which to take pause, regardless. I am resolving that at the start of the new year 2014 on the calendar that falls mid-year in this teachers' mind, I shall begin next semester with a lot more rolling off my back so that my appreciation of imperfect beauty like the image above triumphs over "shoulding" not only as healthy modus operandi, but as a slowed, more deeply relaxed mind. Exhale.
