Monthly Archives: December 2022

……………………….The world is in turmoil…….Mother Nature is pounding many states across the country even as far south as Florida and the southern borders with freezing weather….So many people are missing Christmas with their families due to cancellations! You simply can’t turn on the news without hearing horrible stories. The people of Ukraine are spending their Christmas by candle light because the power grids have been destroyed……but they ARE celebrating…..and they do have HOPE!……We all need to have hope that the good will win out over the evil, and things will get better……..We all need HOPE…..we all need a little CHRISTMAS!……………..MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

………………….HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!………..The ELVES have been very busy backing cookies for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!….There are…..GINGER COOKIES!!!!……..PEANUT NUTTER COOKIES with MINI CHOCOLATE CHIPS!!!!, and one CHOCOLATE KISS on top……..Then there are………BUTTER SUGAR COOKIES with MACE!!!!………I’ve taste tested each one, and all I can say is………….YUMMY!…………Today I am preparing my……STOLLEN, and a process it is…….It takes three rises and kneading the dough between each rise before making the dough into a three tiered braid…..Then the final rise overnight………..On Christmas early morning into the oven it goes………When it comes out of the oven lots of melted butter is brushed on!!!…..Then when it cools it gets a hefty dusting of POWDERED SUGAR!!!!!! Then it will be ready to slice and EAT!……This is a tradition that Jac and I have had for years and years, and I will continue to make my Stollen once a year as long as I can!

……………………..I had to post this picture of my Mom and Dad, and my brother John and goofy me. As you can see I was very happy with what Santa brought me, but actually by then I didn’t believe in the old guy. I remember asking a million times if we didn’t have a fireplace how would he get in??? My father would take me outside and show me the chimney! He’d say “that’s how Santa gets in”… I guess that was enough for me. Then it happened! I don’t recall what year it was. My brothers gave me the horrible news….there was NO SUCH THING AS SANTA CLAUS!!!!, and Mom and Dad bought the presents for me and put Santa’s name on them. At that moment my world collapsed! Did that mean there was no such thing as the Easter Bunny? the Tooth Fairy? all of those mythical creatures that colored my world!…..It was a rude awakening, and nothing was the same anymore It was traumatic! Sometimes I wonder if it’s the right thing to do feeding children these stories only to find out they have been lied to for so many years!!!???…… My brother Mauro must be taking the photo since he’s not in it…..What I love about this picture are my parents expressions!!!! I could write a million captions why they both look so unhappy! Maybe my mother was still mad that my father cut two feet off the top of the tree???? LOL

I’m not sure what year this was, but all of my nephews and nieces are here at my Mom’s house for Christmas…..There are eight in all. My brother Mauro had four children, and my brother John also has four children….Two boys, a girl and a boy….both families in that order….From the left back row .Jeannine, Danielle, Johnathan, James, John, and the three in front….Mathew, Peter and Christopher [who I took to Africa last year!]……My beautiful nephew John passed away at the tender age of 21 in a tragic accident. He would have been 52 years old….He is very missed…..always in our thoughts…….I’m very grateful to have this picture when they were all young and still innocent!……Though I’m not sure how many still believed in SANTA!

…………..These are pictures taken in front of my tree at my mom and dad’s house on Long Island. I would guess I was about eight years old so that would make it 1956….My father and my oldest brother would always go and buy the tree, with specific instructions from my mother. She always told them to please pick one with a nice shape, and not too tall so the top would have to be cut off!….She always said, the beautiful tapered top is very important so the Angel could sit properly…..However, I think my dad thought the ceilings in out house were 14 feet tall because he could never stand a tree upright in the house without CUTTING FROM THE BOTTOM AND THE TOP!!! My mother was always annoyed, but all she would say was….”JIM!….that was all she needed to say!! If was also my father and my brother Mauro’s job to put the lights on. Due to my brother, who was always a perfectionist, they were always done well…..Then it was my Mom and my job to decorate it…It seemed my brother John was never around…He was always at his girlfriend’s house…..The metal tinsel was always last, and always took the longest. I recall one time my mother asked my dad to help one time, but when he started to throw it on the tree helter skelter…..she told him to leave! I think he did it on purpose. He had no patience for tree trimming…..My Mom and I put it on one strand at a time to make sure it hung properly. I loved out tree. We had bubble candle lights along with the old fashioned large multi color lights. I have no idea what became of all the decorations???The glass decorations of the 50s, made after the war, were wonderful…….The Christmas that the photos were taken I got a chemistry set and a pool table, and I loved them!….In the pictures from the left are me and my cousin Grace…..We are the same age…She reminded me the other day that this coming year we are going to have milestone birthdays!!! we will be 75!….when I thought we were going to be 74….boo hoo boo hoo!!!..I didn’t get to see her often because she lived in Mass. and she still does, but we were and still are very close……The “gang” are all my first cousins……from the left [back row] my brother John, and my cousin Pete…[front row] my cousins Joey, Sal and Mauro…..The goofy kid up front is me…..I have to say I was a pretty goofy looking kid!!!….We look like we came right out of central casting for “The East Side Kids”, or “Boy’s Town”……These were definitely “THE GOOD OLD DAYS”…………..so different from today!……Merry Christmas cousins in Heaven and here on Earth!