Wednesday, April 29, 2015

(Belated) Christmas Fun

The last holiday post, I promise! 

With all the formal photos out of the way, so to speak, I am sharing some candid photos from Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning!

Dad and Mary
Jackson with Uncle (cousin to everyone else) Kevin

Little Jackson was missing his own puppies back home...
Uncle Andy...being all masculine and cutting grapefruit for salads


We've always played games, conversed or worked on the annual Christmas puzzle while Christmas Eve dinner was being prepared. So while the parents were busy planning the feast of prime rib, potatoes and so many more options that we all had to be rolled away from the table.....


the cousins chatted...


Kendy and Claire, being a goof...no surprise there!
Jackson meeting Cousin Bri

made merry and.....




...PLAYED HEADS UP! 
I don't know about you, but we all LOVE this game. It is incredibly entertaining and with so many different slide decks to choose from, the fun is endless. 


Of course we played the Christmas slide deck first...Mary volunteered to show others how the game was played
It caught on quickly....
Everyone was quite animated...and this was before the 'Act It Out' round!
Clearly, we weren't as good at guessing non-christmas 
Jackson wanted to play as well, but then got too distracted with the blankets :) 

After the marvelous roast beast, and several bottles of very good wine, we all settle down in our kerchiefs and caps to be refreshed for the morning. My parents had surprised everyone with matching sweaters this year so we there that family :)

But have you ever seen so many happy faces?!

Bri and Grandmére, I love this photo

The below photo is a close second of all the photos of the family opening presents Christmas morning.  Our Uncle Paul has always give unique gifts. I remember several unique gifts. One year he gave us all huge rocks. I admit, at the age of 12 I didn't think that a rock was an adequate Christmas gift. But the rocks turned out to be geodes! He also used to give us brain twisters and complex puzzles to tease us with. While in recent years he's changed a bit and has started donating money to different charities in the families' names, his fun originality still comes through. 

Mike and Kevin were both new to Tunakan Family Christmas. They'd both married into the family and had yet to celebrate one with us. So Paul, in typical Paul fashion, gave them their 'Right of Passage' gift: all the complex puzzles that the cousins had previously received with the challenge to solve them by the time they left! 

Mike and Kevin took it in good fun :) 





















Jackson was a little busy with the bows to smile for photo!







Mike being a good sport and showcasing his cousin Secret Santa gift. I mean, you never know, maybe his calves WILL get cold up there in PA!



I'm so grateful that everyone indulged me and posed for so many photos! I've noticed that we've not always been very good at taking photos of the times we are together, unlike the previous generations, and when I mentioned it everyone agreed. 


-Elise 


Sunday, April 26, 2015

More Christmas Traditions (more than a little late)...


And right after I promise to be more diligent, I continue to neglect...I'm sorry! And I don't even have the excuse of holidays and travel. Is it possible to have a New Year's Resolution with it's not the New Year? If not, then I give you a Spring Resolution: I WILL DO BETTER! 

Now that I have cleared that up :).....

Here are the rest of the formal family photos taken at Christmas. I mentioned in the previous post that every other year the entire of my dad's side of the family gets together for Christmas. Every year I am more grateful for getting this time together. With it, I feel that despite the distance that separates us, my sisters and I have been able to remain so close to our cousins. 

Grandmére and her eldest, Paul. His full name is Bulent Paul, after his father Tahir Bulent. My grandfather immigrated from Turkey in the '50's.




Claire, Mary and Me with our parents and Grandmére!





Claire, Mary and Elise 

Grandmére and her youngest, Aunt Anne




The Nelsons: Rowan, Tessa, Aunt Anne and Bri

- Elise 

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Christmas Traditions (a little late...)


Tunakan Family Christmas

It's been a while since either of my sisters, or myself, have created a new post. To be honest, it's been a pretty busy winter/holiday season. With Claire back at school, Mary and me working full time (and taking multiple ski trips for which you will see photos for later :) ) there wasn't much time to post. Let's hope this spring proves less busy! 

For longer than I have been alive, my dad's side of the family has gotten together every other year to celebrate Christmas. And there is one thing that the past generations have done much better than we have in past years: take family photos. With my awesome new camera we strived to remedy this problem and took some family photos that I'm sure will last a lifetime. Enjoy!


The Whole Family

Our matriarch and her children 

All the aunts, uncles and Grandmére

The Tunakan Cousins


Four generations: Grandmére, Aunt Leigh, Cousin Kim and Jackson Paul




The newlyweds! 





The Shubra Cousins

More photos to come later!

-Elise 

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Weston Brewing Company


        A few Saturdays ago, we visited the Weston Brewing Company. A local company, it was established in 1842 and the original cellars are still open for tours.  We had a wonderful evening touring, tasting, enjoying a gas light dinner and listening to live Irish music (unfortunately no pictures).  









To get to one of the cellars farther down, they had to raise the stairs. It was really fun to take a secret tunnel of sorts to get to where we were going.  I was the first one on the way back out and found that they had lowered the stairs back into place after our group. We were trapped! We must not have been quite because another employee quickly lifted the stairs to let us out.