TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Brainard Christmas Pictures

Friday, December 26, 2014

Brainard Christmas Pictures - #Christmas

Christmas is a busy time of the year for us. We have Christmas Eve dinner, which is followed by Christmas caroling and a white elephant gift exchange.

In the morning, we gather to open gifts. Even though we don't encourage it, the children do get a touch of "avarice" over gifts. One of the older children was getting sad when the younger ones had many gifts, and he had few packages -- until he opened the last package which was a computer that he wanted.

In the afternoon, we visit my mother-in-law, where her other children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are also visiting. I'm guessing there must be around 50-60 people in there. I try to sit quietly someplace or else I feel like the woman in A Passage to India who freaks out in the Marabar Caves.

I'm sharing some pictures taken this Christmas. You can make them bigger by clicking on the pictures.

Christmas Eve:

Here's the younger set chatting in the kitchen

Gathering in the living room in preparation for the Christmas caroling

Luke is very serious about his Christmas caroling

Andrew, the dutiful uncle, helping Luke with the Googlebox

This is one of my favorite moments: when Doug Noble gets this shiny blue tights in the gift exchange

Here's Robert playing in the back room

Christmas Day:

Here's Dylan when he opens his gift and sees it's a laptop

Juana and Swapna wearing the flower crowns I gave them

Cecilia and Lauren with Bryn

Bryn, Stephanie, Anha

Bryn passed out on the couch with Lulu

Andrew and Swapna

This is one of my favorite pictures: Lauren sitting quietly, looking amused at the bedlam around him, with Lulu on his lap

Lauren, his Mom, and siblings (minus one)

Mom Merwyn with some of her great-grandchildren and some grandchildren

Chris and Andrew - I also like this picture showing "brotherly love"

l-r: Alex, Kim (foreground), Donnie, Andrew

l-r: Andrew, Chris, Mom Merwyn, Alex - I love this picture of my boys with their grandmother

Mom Merwyn with some Brainard Boys

Another picture of Mom Merwyn with grandchildren and great-grandchildren

Mom Merwyn having a quiet moment with Ruby

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Tags: Christmas, pictures, photos, family, #CeciliaBrainard
This is all for now,
Cecilia

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.