Christmas 1997

I don't think anyone who knows my family will be shocked at the ordering of the pictures here. It somehow seems correct to start with the pets and get to the people later.

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My aunt has several cats. While I was there, I ran them around with a laser pointer. Of course, I had to be careful not to hurt them, but I'm certain they were very fit by the time I left. It was amusing to see a cat panting, and that made a good stoping point. They sure slept well.


Now, for the people. Names are important, so I don't have to write "my aunt Arlene" over and over again. Lorraine is my mother, but I'll just keep with "mother" here. Arlene is her sister, and my aunt. Diane is Arlene's daughter, making Diane my cousin. Duane is her husband, making him a cousin too. Betty is Duane's mother, which makes her not part of my direct family, but I'll keep her anyway. She's a good cook, after all.

You'll see a few more pets here, too, of course.


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My mother, holding my aunt Arlene's dog. At least this proves that I was in fact not hatched.

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My aunt and my mother, surveying the damage done to her otherwise neat home. Christmas does that sort of thing.

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My Diane, showing off my aunt's dog.

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My Duane, and their pet, Sam.

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Diane and Arlene, having a nice chat until someone sneaks in with a camera.

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Betty, in the kitchen.

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My mother, actually lettnig me take a picture. She had no idea the world would get to look at it, so don't tell her, ok?

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While home, my second cousins Kimberly and Troy (which I have no pictures of, hrmph!) and I put together a 3D puzzle. It took long enough and looked cool enough to warrant a picture or three.

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While I was home, I also snapped off some pictures of my home town of Grinnell, Iowa. I tried to get more than just this, but I seem to have lost a roll of film somewhere. I only ended up with a picture of a bank and one street. And yes, that is a bank, not a church. It's some sort of historical monument or something, and it looks fairly cool. And yes, it is usually this empty on the streets. I think this was an early morning picture, though.

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