Year in Review

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

"All which we behold is full of blessings"

Wordsworth poem describe Christmas morning best. Everywhere we looked were blessings overflowing. The kids have learned to savor the moment and unwrap slowly their three gifts under the tree (like the Savior received 3 gifts from the wise men)

Trevor finally got his trench coat to wear over his suit. Check out the smile....

and the dapper young men sporting a new tie from the Whitings

While I love a well dressed man, I also adore the little kid that also comes out with the new toys. Spidey on PS3 from Uncle Pete was a hit.

Brendan took his time as well --only because he couldn't figure out how to get the knots undone...

but he succeeded-- and for Bond he would unravel a pile of bothersome knots

Brendan has grown so much his ankles and wrists have been showing so, of course, he also got a new coat.

Natalie was in music heaven with her four new disks. (The boys were dying when they had to endure Rhianna, Taylor Swift, Hillary Duff & the Twilight soundtrack)

Baby Moore put on a brave face when she thought she didn't get the new coat she wanted (you'd think I have no creativity getting them all the same things --but they all wanted new black trench coats)

But Jennifer came through and saved the day and mailed me the coat priority mail (the company wouldn't send it here to an FPO. Miraculously, despite the anthrax scare we had at the post office, the coat arrived on Christmas Eve!) It was warm in the house but they sported their new garb proudly.

Steve's twin Pete, visiting from LA, enlivened the festivities

and played Santa's helper

he had everyone laughing

especially with his gangster poses and his ChinFi sweatshirt (the China stitching on the back had the A looking like an FI. We joked and wondered since everything is made in China, if you actually buy something in China, that is made there, does it just say "Made Here"?)

Pete's friend Ray, an producer in Hollywood, also cracked us up...

can see why even with this blurry Home Alone pose

I made cinnamon rolls and danishes for breakfast and with all that sugar and the candy from the stockings everyone gorged themselves on, I often wonder the sanity of preparing a huge Christmas meal but tradition holds, and I spent 5 hours in the kitchen cooking.

They made a pretty good dent in the honey spiral ham and Eiffel tower of rolls and colossal pile of potatoes & pies--- despite not being ravished.

GiGi from Steve's office, a fun petite Italian gal from Naples, also came over and we had a pleasant afternoon playing games and talking. And at the end of the day, as I looked over the teetering stack of dirty plates and glasses

and bags of shredded wrap and discarded ribbon, but also the Christmas cards from friends and family tacked to the walls and the content expressions of all around me --I felt bouyant. I gathered in the moment and held it to me & understood what Luke was trying to express about Mary's feelings when she looked upon her new child and all the shepherds about and the mess of the stable and yet marveled:

"And Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." Pondering at the end of the day brought enlightment to my heart and all I beheld was blessings....

9 things we love about the countdown to Christmas

1) Setting up the nativity scene. The kids always crowd the wise men and animals smack in front of the Christ child, and I always pull them back in a respectful manner. But after living here in Rome, where there is no personal space on the bus or subway, I realize the kids have it right and I have it wrong. Everyone, including the animals, would have crowded around the miraculous infant in excitement. We do our annual Presepe or nativity walk around Rome and look at all the different life size scenes to get into the Christmas spirit. 2) The kid's cute ornaments. Nothing tugs the heartstrings more than the hand print and glitter creations of cherubic 4 yr olds.

3) Decorating the tree: Everyone is the right age to put the breakable ornaments on the tree and actually leave them there. They each have their favorite ornaments and enjoy hanging and relating the memory that goes with them

4) Decorating gingerbread:

The worse they look, the better they taste we've decided. We play Hansel and Gretel and chow down on them and get nice and fattened up for the witch and Christmas day. (In Italy they have a witch named La Befana who bring treats Jan 6th)

5) Reading nightly Christmas stories: This really sets the tone for the month when everyone tells a tender story of sacrifice or miracles. Brendan keeps us laughing with his versions of the stories.

6) Untangled lights: Now matter how carefully we pack them, they always end up in knots....but my boy scouts are good at getting them right again and stringing them up. These twinkling little lights all around the house chase away the dark grey days of winter, and quicken the pace and excitement for the upcoming holiday.

7) Carols and Concerts: it takes a high school band to usher in the music of the season and put a smile (or plastered smile) on your face. This year a genuine smile as Trevor carried the concert with his stunning clarinet solo, and even music snob Steve had to admit his boy excelled in his performance.

8) Angels: We love the handcrafted ones but especially admire the real ones who perform little acts of kindness during this season... I've been enjoying the dishwasher miraculously being emptied in the morning when I wake up.

9) Red and green in nature: Foliage really helps remind of the life and birth of our Savior

Only 7 more days and counting!

Dan the Man

This adorable boy, Li'l Dan'l, in the brown corduroy jacket grew up to be a young man and donned a letterman's jacket as an All-State linebacker

and grew some more to be a handsome man and wore a leather biker's jacket

and met a pretty girl and put on a tuxedo jacket

and is currently building their home and still doesn't need a straight jacket --- yet!

Happy Birthday Dan! We are all so impressed with your many talents building your home. We love you. Many happy trails and new jackets!

Giving Thanks

Normally I grease a brown paper grocery sack and cook up a nice golden turkey in an hour and a half. This year, there were no sacks to be found, so I had to use one of those plastic roasting bags, and I had this nagging fear that we were eating toxic plastic particles along with the drumsticks. But alas, we braved my fears and enjoyed a nice meal despite my paranoia. Kids were great to help. Natalie peeled a whole sack of potatoes and helped me with the rolls while the boys washed windows, swiffered floors and swept patios. (It wasn't the 30 below, picking up frozen rocks from the field chores that mom imposed on us before we feasted, but it was work nonetheless)

The Guidara family came to experience their first Thanksgiving. Emanuele, the father, was pretty brave and tried cranberry juice and even put fresh cranberry sauce on his turkey and gravy on his potatoes. His kids just looked on in terror. Silvia is expecting a baby and was in the throes of morning sickness but still managed to get down the basics--stuffing, rolls and mashed potatoes.

The sweet potatoes looked disgusting to them, but they really enjoyed the struesel topped pumpkin pie (the most important dish in the meal in my opinion)

Michelle, their boy asked when leaving how often Thanksgiving comes each year so they could come back. After three full days of cooking and cleaning, I'm giving thanks it only comes once a year.

Dog days of Winter

Funny what guys will give up for a cute girl. Trevor loves to sleep, but he gladly gave it up to go walk a couple dogs early in the morning and late at night for a new pretty girl Sofie who has just moved to Rome and lives about a mile away. Her bulldogs were ugly and cute rolled together.

They eat yogurt with their dog food and Trevor had to take a napkin and wipe their faces like children as they were too lazy to do it on their own.

This is the female Lily (above) and the male Gus below. No one told him he has a nasty under bite.

The dogs can't go on walks together. Their legs are too short to get up and down the stairs and they fight in the elevator. They got into these barking mini brawls by the door and wrestled around on the floor-- not too unlike my boys.

They get harnessed in a leash that has chest strap instead of one that goes around the neck... not enough leash to go around the jowls?

While Trevor walked Gus I stayed behind with Lily and walked through the families "antique store"

It was very Eastern Europe and Asian eclectic with Buddhas and helmets from the Ottoman Empire.

There were antlers and rugs and statues everywhere the eye looked.

This was the prettiest room. It had some French accents but the dining room below gave me sensory overload. I really felt like I was poking around a store.

This is a human skull that at first I thought was a turtle shell. Wonder what it is used for? How the Turks kept their subjects in fear?

Or maybe it's the skull from their previous bull dog who argued one too many times in the elevator. All I know is I'm not rushing out to get bulldogs any time soon.