New Year's Day - Visiting Family

On New Year's Day, the air was thick with smoke... the Chinese government cancelled fireworks due to air pollution issues, which I sort of marveled at, but could understand the following morning.  Later in the day we will head to Vicky's aunt's place for a chance to catch up with the extended family.  But first, we need to go to the fruit store in Agile and get some baskets put together.

When we arrive at her aunt's house, it is pure bedlam.  The door opens and everyone yells in greeting, of course then it your job to yell greetings as each following person comes in.

All along this visit, my role was to get some family photographs.  It's been a bit of a challenge as none of the places are really long enough to do good portraiture, so we're getting people who aren't too used to standing and posing, to try and pose for a photo.  This time, we found a nice background along one wall and the key was finding a time when nobody was standing in front of or behind the subject.

One special treat this time is that Vicky's uncle had heard that I was interested in seeing some of her childhood photos and was able to dig up a few...

After looking at the photos, we headed to the restaurant for our New Year's Day dinner.