Designer

………………………..Not everyone can be a Disney Princess…………………we have to love the villains too!

……………………………….Cathy and her sister Connie drove up from PA to pay me a visit just before Christmas……We had a COOKIE EXCHANGE! I gave them cookies I had baked [in the snowmen cookie containers], and I received so many cookies of different types it was overwhelming……..I’m just one “small” person!….LOL……We spent some time in the family room having a snack, and after some conversation and some laughs…off we went to Greenwich CT. for lunch at a lovely little French restaurant named Versailles. Cathy and I both ordered the French onion soup followed by Quiche. With all of this we had a bottle of delicious Sancerre white wine.   After a leisurely lunch we took a stroll up and down Greenwich Ave looking at all the shop windows and the people. Most wore masks, even on the street, but every store required them. There were many people scurrying to buy Christmas gifts. Connie took a picture of Cathy and I in front of a huge manger set up in front of a church. As we were having our picture taken a young couple walked by, and we could hear her say, “oh look someone has taken the statue of baby Jesus!”. Cathy, Connie and I had a good chuckle. We guessed she didn’t know the statue wasn’t put into the manger until Christmas morning!……Then we made it back to my house, and sat by the fire and had desert, and some Stolen……We had a lovely visit…..I’m slowly making my way through the cookies. I’m not going anywhere near a scale for quite a while!!!

…………………………They have all said it better, and truer than I ever could.

…………………………Christmas morning started as it has for many many years……..with “STOLLEN” baked that morning……..Jac always prepared the Stollen on Christmas Eve and it would rise overnight….then first thing in the morning she would put it in the oven while I got a fire going in the family room. We would open our presents with our girls sniffed every present to find the ones with the goodies in them. They always found the ones with the treats, and would start to tear the paper open. Jac wrapped them loosely so they could be easily opened. We sat watching the fire, listening to Christmas music and sipped fresh brewed coffee. Soon the Stollen would be ready and we sat at the dining table near the tree and ate our Christmas breakfast. This was our tradition for as long as I can remember…………….This Christmas morning started like all others. I made the Stolen. just like Jac had, and into the oven it went at about 6am. I started a fire and put on the Christmas music. Sammy opened her presents, and would have eaten every single treat if I didn’t take some away for later! The Stollen came out of the oven and it was perfect! I waited for it to cool and sprinkled it with confection sugar…..”SNOW ON THE MOUNTAIN”, as Jac would call it. Then Sammy and I sat by the fire and had our Stollen , me with a cup of tea…….Later when Lou arrived to take care of Sammy, we had another piece of Stollen!……..Then I got ready for the day……….I drove to my brother’s house with the Christmas presents in the “sleigh”, and a cheese cake with Oreo cookie crumb base…..”double chocolate Oreos”! It was sitting on the seat next to me……..To my utter amazement…..there was hardly any traffic driving from CT to Long Island on the CT Turnpike and the Long Island Expressway! For anyone who takes these highways they know how amazing it is to be on them at 11:00am and for them to be empty……I arrived at my brothers first which was good, because it gave us a chance to catch up…..Then the “kids” arrived…….First Matty and Michelle, than Chris, and always last Jeannine!……..I got Michelle to volunteer to be my helper handing out my Christmas bags with everyone’s present in them…….In Oct. I received a postcard in the mail [lower left], and on the card were two pictures of a black tee shirt and a black hoodie with the name DELL’OLIO on it! I thought “what new scam is this?”, but soon came to realize it wasn’t a scam at all, and this company was selling all kinds of items with my name on it. I thought what a fun thing for me to get….and so I ordered the hoodies for everyone. They came the second week of Dec. and they were perfect, and a really nice quality……..So we all donned out new hoodies and took a family picture….from L to R, Matty, Jeannine, my brother Mauro, Chris and me. Kathy is sitting in the chair in front as the matriarch of the family…..Everyone loved their hoodie….I recieved a box of Chocolate Truffles….yummy….a red Lacoste, which I needed, and a large long box filled with four large different herb scented candles……..We watched to Christmas classics, The Wizard of Oz, and A Christmas Carol, and then it was time to eat. It was more of an Italian feast then a traditional Christmas dinner which was fine with me…..Baked Ziti with Meatballs and Chicken Parmesan were the main dishes, and then desert……My SIL made a chocolate cream pie, my cheese cake, and my nephew brought the most amazing Lobster Claws filled with French cream….all were delicious……By the end of dinner we all had to be rolled out….we were stuffed!…..At about 7:00pm I took my leave for my trip back home………Santa’s job was done for another year!

……………………….Merry Christmas to ALL!!!!!! I wish everyone a joyous merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!!!! The Holiday card of me was made by one of my very talented assistants….Mark……Everyone signed it on the inside……It’s one of my favorite keepsakes, and one of my best presents ever!!!!!!……Mark documented that I was still a smoker!…..bad me!!!………….a Merry Christmas and a Happy and HEALTHY New Year to ALL!!!!!!!…………………….much Love……………………….Louis