I really don’t know when I took this photograph, but the date on the file suggests its use as a Christmas card preceded the one of Mt. Garfield I posted December 19. This was probably the first actual card, but not the first in the series of Mt. Garfield shots used for subsequent Christmas cards.

I believe this was one of my first attempts to stand behind something to shoot into the sun, to achieve that flair effect. This technique I discovered in digital photography classes and/or meetings hosted by Adam Cochran and Rick Castellini. The date on the paperwork I still have from that class is 2002. That was SO long ago. They’ve moved on a bit in their interests and pursuits, but then, as now, they were knowledgable, fun, and completely accessible. I learned a lot in those classes. I think this shot was a direct result of things I learned from them.

Today I am thankful for family. They connect me to the rest of the world in the sweetest and most loving way. They remind me I belong somewhere. When all around me things sometimes seem so foreign, I can spend time with my family and know I did not just make it all up. I came from somewhere, and I feel completely at home in their presence. I think it’s only through family I’m not completely alone at the times I feel most isolated.

And really, with a few exceptions, they’re about the only bunch of people that seem to always put up with my nonsense and let me come back for more. Maybe that’s because, as family, they’ve had to endure long enough and often enough that it’s given me time to finally prove I don’t always misbehave.

I’m starting to sound a little like a vaccine. My family has almost completed their series of donnaculations. They’ll get one more dose on December 25 and be good for the following year.

If you’re lucky enough to have family that continues to talk to each other, challenge and learn from each other, love each other, and stand by each other, then you know to what degree they are one of the most important gifts we are given in this life.

I am that lucky.