Just about an hour or so until the new year. We decided to stay home this evening and have a quiet time, but we spent the day driving down to the shoreline.

We made stops to take photos as the husband gave me a digital camera for Christmas and I really hadn't tried it out yet. He is forever taking photos because he paints from his photos and he is planning on starting some new paintings this week. So now we can take photos together, which was fun.

We ended up having a late lunch at a popular seafood restaurant and ran into some old friends of ours which was a very unexpected surprise!

As we were heading back towards home the sun was setting over Long Island sound and we just had to make a stop to try to capture it before it went down.

It was ferociously windy and cold by the water so a stop at Starbucks for some hot coffee and tea hit the spot before we made our way back.

We arrived home and welcomed our little "grand-dog" Tucker whom we are dog sitting tonight.

A very Happy 2k8 (urban word for today) to all!!!

Work, Read, Blog, Work

Today is an absolutely beautiful sunny and warm day. Snow all melted and so mild and muddy out there. Temp is 43 degrees, but it feels higher.

I took my son down to the train station this morning as he was heading out to NYC to meet a friend and then take off for up state New York. Seems like he just got home and he is off again till New Year's Day. He is a traveler and adventurer, no grass growing under his feet. He is so different than the rest of us.

And so my house is quiet again for a few days and we will adjust to the empty nest once again. In return for the ride to the train station, he willingly called me at all his connection points, because he knows I don't relax when he is traveling. Roots and wings... I try to provide that, but I know I tug at those wings, probably a wee bit too much.

My aunt was off having tests today at the hospital and may come home. We are just waiting for the call before we head up there either to visit or bring her home.

Today I decided to rearrange all of my kitchen cabinets to make room for the new glida+ stor that I purchased yesterday. It is a great compact storage system, by the way. So my kitchen is filled with all kinds of piles of things that will go off to the garage or Good Will in an effort to make things more organized around here. The husband will not be able to find anything tonight.

In between working on the cabinets I have been breaking away to read my book, Eat, Pray, Love. It was so nice outside that I swept away all of the Mimosa tree twigs and seeds off of the deck from the wind storm the other night, and sat outside to read. ( The son just called again. On the second train heading towards Jersey, now.) I love reading in natural light, it is so much kinder to these fragile eyes.

Oh how I am loving this book, I can't read it now without a highlighter next to me, because there is so much I want to go back to. The book provokes so many feelings that I can not even sort them out, but every once in a while, my eyes tear up and my heart bursts with emotion.

That would be my little joy for today.

Thursday ramblings

I took the day today to go shopping on my own and spend the gift cards that I received for Christmas. I had a nice afternoon browsing around Barnes and Noble bookstore. It always surprises me how expensive books are! When I walked into the store I was thinking I could get a bundle of books with my card and ended up with only 3 and a couple of other small items and ended up owing them money. It adds up so quickly.

I am excited about the books I picked out: The Tao of Daily Life, Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Other Women, and Inventing the Rest of our Lives;Women in Second Adulthood. It was funny because I had other books in mind when I walked in, but I will check out the library for those.

First I need to finish the book my son got me for Christmas, Eat, Pray, Love, before I can start the others. I am enjoying that book immensely! What great writing! I will write more about it when I finish it.

After the bookstore, I stopped for some lunch. As I was leaving the restaurant the receipt caught my eye. The cashier gave me the Senior Citizen discount. I am not a Sr. Citizen yet, but since I no longer dye my hair people take me for one. The last couple of times I went to Kohl's they asked me if I was a Sr. Citizen and the cashier last night said to me, " I know you don't look it, but are you?" I could tell she did not want to offend me, but also did not want to cheat me, just in case. Hard spot for her to be in. I didn't even know that Sr. Citizens get an automatic 15% off!

The cashier today didn't ask me, she just gave it to me, but I didn't even realize it. Maybe I should wear a button that says I am too young for a Sr. Discount.

I was out all after noon and when I came back I found out that my 80 year old aunt was rushed to the hospital with chest pains. They admitted her and will do more testing tomorrow. We were all together on Christmas Eve and she didn't feel well then, but did not say anything. She never wants to burden us with her problems and she does not have any children or a husband to help her out. I will take my mother to see her tomorrow and we will do our best to attend to her needs.

Good night!!

The Hustle and Bustle of the Christmas

A whirlwind of activities has come to a close.

On Christmas Eve we visited my cousin's home along with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins from my mother's side of the family. There are now over 50 of us, enjoying a great deal of kissing, hugging, laughing, and eating. The Christmas Eve menu has changed over the years. Back in the day the aunts put out the traditional Italian Christmas Eve spread, that included mostly fish. Baked stuffed shrimp, octopus, calamari, sausage and peppers and other delights.

These days we try to to have less food so that the preparations don't take so long, but hey we are Italian, so scaling back is hard! This year there was pizza, pesto, meatballs, shrimp cocktail, stuffed mushrooms, salad, calamari, to name a few and an assortment of desserts.

There are some cousins that I only see now on Christmas Eve, so we all count on that once a year to connect. The night goes by so fast, and it is not hardly enough time to talk to everyone, but you feel that connection when you hug hello and good-bye and give each other that extra squeeze to communicate the love that you feel towards one another.

The best part for me was that all our children were hanging out together downstairs playing Mad Gab and having a ball. All ages... from 10 to the adults.

I love that my grown up children still enjoy going to Christmas Eve, and that they appreciate our heritage and family.

Now that the family has grown so much, there are not many houses that can accommodate all those people. I could never squeeze in 50 people in my house, so I have never had the privilege of hosting. But as we look for our next home, it is a dream to buy a home with enough space to have all of my family over for Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning, we open our gifts together as a family and have a big breakfast of home-made waffles and sausages and eggs. After admiring all of our gifts, it is time to get to work on Christmas dinner!

Christmas Day was always spent at my in-laws' home, but the past few years it has been at my house. This year she really wanted to have it at her home again so we offered to make the turkey and stuffing and bring it up to her house, so this would be one less thing she would have to do. The rest of the family would arrive early and help her with the other dinner preparations.

We had a wonderful sit down turkey dinner with all of the trimmings and topped it off with a flaming plum pudding, and the best chocolate and peanut butter truffle ever!

Today we just plan to take it easy. I have a Feldenkrais class later and other than that no plans other than hanging out here and maybe visits from some family members.

Peace on Earth

If as Herod, we fill our lives with things, and again with things; if we consider ourselves so unimportant that we must fill every moment of our lives with action, when will we have the time to make the long, slow journey across the desert as did the Magi? Or sit and watch the stars as did the shepherds? Or brood over the coming of a child as did Mary? For each one of us, there is a desert to travel. A star to discover. And a being within ourselves to bring to life.

-Author Unknown

From Simple Abundance

Sarah Ban Breathnach

Christmas Adam

www.urbandictionary.com

Word of the day, Christmas Adam.

The day before Christmas Eve. Since Adam was created before Eve, and the need to be equitable in the holiday season, Christmas Adam creates further anticipation of Christmas Day.

When is your family coming to our place? On Christmas Adam and leaving New Year's Day.

Christmas Adam is the last chance to prepare for the Christmas Eve party.

_ We always called this day, Christmas Eve, Eve. But it will be Christmas Adam from now on!

Pajama Day

A friend of mine told me about one of her family traditions called pajama day. It is held the day after Christmas and her close family members come over and they hang out in pajamas, eat leftovers, play board games and watch videos. I thought that was such a cool idea, and something I would love to start in my family.

Does anyone else have a favorite holiday time family tradition?