Every picture tells a story...

This is the photo I ended up using on our holiday card this year, which was a postcard, so I didn't get to say much! (I had a design where I did put some explanatory text, but it really didn't look good, design-wise.) So I'll explain the story of this picture here...first, our three kids (who, I believe, have EACH laughed about me using a quote from U2 on the holiday card!). Then, Randal, a great guy, student at IU, who is a good friend of our family. (A few weeks ago, Randal, who really knows his way around a kitchen, came over and TAUGHT me to use our grill, starting with "You take this brush and clean it off....") A student in Bloomington, he is from Los Angeles and is a really good friend to Amalia, too. And so is his family. Then, the big silver menorah was a gift from my mom, who isn't even Jewish but IS totally supportive, obviously! The little wooden statue of a deer nuzzling her baby (right-hand window, up in the middle) was always in the front window at the home of Jordie's parents, Shoshana and Oved (may their memories be for a blessing). The lamp reflected there is one that always stood by his dad's chair in the living room. (It's a Stiffel, and after we finished cleaning up at Oved's house after his death -- Jordie and I were standing by our van at 1 in the morning, with Jordie saying "We don't have room for that lamp" and me saying "We ARE taking that lamp!) The wooden menorah in the foreground is one that Jordie and I bought, after we got off a bus and walked down the road to Caesarea, during our first trip to Israel together in January 1980. (I thought, "Oh, we're buying a menorah together! He's keeping me around!) The incredible art work behind the kids is called "Miriam's Freedom" and is by artist and friend Jeremy Bazur (jeremybazur.com to see more of his work). I asked him to do a piece for my collection of works which all feature Miriam dancing by the sea...and, of course, the work that he did is just incredible, full of neat details and colors. The original is a college. And, a detail that one may not know when you look at this photo....it's in the living room of our new home -- 2033 S. Montclair, Bloomington IN 47401. We are happily getting used to living here.

Below, I'm going to post photos I considered using for the annual holiday mailing -- but didn't in favor of simplicity!


Ice cream cones after canoeing and kayaking on the Blue River, August 2006.

This expedition was much more fun than I anticipated....the kids had lots of fun in the kayaks, chasing each other, ecaping from us....one memory is Abby, temporarily by herself on the river, ahead of us, singing "Joy to the world, all you boys and girls, joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me!" while keeping time with her paddle on the kayak.





Amalia, Abby, Adam and Lynne, Blue River day in August. The shirt that Abby's wearing is one that Shoshana bought for Amalia in Longboat Key when the kids were small. Now Amalia and Abby steal it back and forth from each other...










This is a more close-up view of Jeremy Bazur's work, "Miriam's Freedom." Check out the camel on the right! I can't believe he did this as a college -- it's incredible!














Those two wild women from "Megsmalia." (Megan and Amalia, roommates in Los Angeles)












Lynne, Pat and Abby at Pat's new apartment in Bloomington -- at Redbud Hills Retirement Residence.

















Abby by the fort/clubhouse/girls' hangout she and Jordie are building together. Just behind the fenceline, but still on our property, is a stand of trees where they are building it. Very private!

















Adam, Abby and Amalia, in front of a huge silver moose statue in Chicago, August 2006.



















Jordie, Judy, Amalia, (Matthew in front), Adam, Abby, Lynne, Megan. (Judy is Jordie's second cousin, who we discovered on jewishgen.org. Judy's father and Jordie's mother were first cousins. Matthew is Judy and Shlomo's grandson. They live just north of Chicago, and though we had never met before this year -- visiting them just feels like home.

Megan is Amalia's good friend from college, who is teaching in Chicago now.









Jordie, Lynne and Abby on the back porch of our new house














Beautiful girls, in the photo booth at a party...












And, finally, below are a couple of photos (along with the Blue River ones) that I picked to use on tee-shirts that Jordie and I had made for our family this Chanukah...before our first child was born, Jordie started referring to our family as the "Shifriss Adventure Team." So we had tee-shirts made with all our names on the front, and on the back, photos and ... a list of all our family vacations over the years:

Shifriss Adventure Team Tour 1982 –

Longboat Key, FL trips
Rangeley, ME
Blue Mountain, ME
White Mountains, NH
Nova Scotia, PEI
Woodstock, VT
Capitol Island, ME
Summer of ’88 Grand Tour
Lincoln State Park, IN
Turkey Run, IN
London/Southern England/Paris
Israel
Stratford, Ont., trips
Shawnee National Forest
Highland Park, NJ trips
New York/Philly trips
Arizona, Utah and California
Civil Rights tour/Disney World
Chicago, IL




Adam, Abby and Jordie, Israel, summer 1996, just after coming down from Masada. (Sarah, Abby's babydoll, accompanied us everywhere!) I think this is one of my favorite photos ever.














Abby, Adam, Amalia and Jordie, Getty Museum, Los Angeles, summer 2005.