My Sister-in-Law, Georgia, joins me in wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

While the photo is of poor quality, it is a fun one to share.  Georgia and I enjoyed our few moments clowning around together in a photo booth at a holiday party.

Despite a change in lifestyle this past summer, Christmas has and is being celebrated in much the same fashion.  With that in mind, I’ll focus primarily on one holiday season highlight.  This being a trip to New York City.

What better time to travel there than at Christmas!  There was no snow to add to the Christmas ambiance and no evening crowd in Time Square, but the visit was awesome all the same.

My daughter, Betsy, and I met up there for a fast track visit.  The primary reason for going was to see a photography exhibition at the MET Breuer.  As Betsy is a photographer and art historian, whose graduate studies focused on South Asian photography and art history, she wanted to see the Raghibur Singh exhibition.  It is entitled, “Modernism on the Ganges”.  It was intriguing to see a photograph on exhibit of Krishna’s Butterball.  It is a sight in Mamallapuram, India I saw last March.

Our 24 hours in NYC included riding the subway from Queens to Manhattan, seeing
Time Square, walking along Madison Avenue, visiting Rockefeller Center,  strolling through Central Park and, of course, a yellow taxi cab ride.  Betsy and I, also, exchanged Christmas gifts.  Much to my surprise Betsy gifted me with a photo she had taken when we attended the international photography festival, Chobi Mela, in Bangladesh several years ago.  It came as no surprise to her though that I gifted her with several red-nosed reindeer themed items. Yes, Betsy is a grown women.  But a red-nosed reindeer is a reminder of surviving financial hardships when she was a teenager and the love and survival that consistently shines brightly between mother and daughter during difficult times.

It’s Christmas Eve and I feel blessed to be with family in Anacortes, Washington.  Any time I get to spend with my youngest brother, Tracy, and his family is special.  My niece, Nikki, has a gift for decorating the most beautiful Christmas tree you’ve ever seen and she and her boyfriend, Cory, are the perfect hosts.  Their home has an awesome view of the San Juan Islands and one of the local marinas.

To those I hold close to my heart, near and far, I wish you a very Merry Christmas.  The light and lives we share continue to illuminate my life and touch my soul!