more opa visit

we went to hoboken, new jersey to see my grandma's family. my opa and my grandma met and married in hoboken and a lot of my grandma's family still lives there. the food was absolutely wonderful (italians know how to put out a spread) and as always, it was great to see everyone.


my brother-in-law was excited to wear his red sox championship shirt to the new york city area. the top left picture below is my opa and my grandma's sister. they have both outlived all their siblings, pretty humbling. my opa will be 90 next year and my aunt mary is older by quite a few years.

even though i don't look italian, i think i look most like my italian relatives. this is a picture of my mom's first cousin and me; see any resemblance?

opa, my mom and i took the kids to an amazing kids' museum. we had a blast. we also saw the movie enchanted, took pony rides at my niece's birthday party and visited opa's parents grave near rahway, new jersey. i'm sure we did more, but that's all i can remember for now.

mein opa und thanksgiving

while i'm on the topic of holidays, i'll post about thanksgiving since i didn't at the time. my opa was here visiting from california.


thanksgiving was at my house and i must admit that i enjoy making a big meal for everyone. i forgot to get a picture (starting to sound familiar, right?) of the table before we started eating, but here's the gang at the table.

gracie (with some help from lily) made her apple pie and i LOVED using my pomegranate linens that i won.
pat is modeling the apron for me.

letters from santa

the kids received letters from santa this year (my neighbor is holding up jake's letter; she was here when they arrived in the mail). it tickled me to see how excited grace was to get these letters; she has such a believing heart. i will admit that after repeatedly scolding most of my family for making too many "stocking" comments that it is actually one time that i slipped about the stocking that grace overheard and that she might not be so believing anymore. i ain't denying or confirming anything though!

gifts of christmas

christmas eve and day were spent at my parents' house in new york. i kept my goal of staying in my jammies all day (even when i traveled to my sister's place to exchange gifts with my mom AND when i traveled back home later that day).


the best gift i received for christmas was probably a nap while my brother-in-law made a very, yummy dinner. other great gifts (since i took so many pics of people opening presents) were as follows:

1. an ipod from my dad and stepmom which i am loving more than i would have guessed. i keep listening to it while i do dishes or other stuff around the house. i have been caught dancing along to the music, but have been lucky enough to not belt out in song while others are around (although really, it's just a matter of time before that happens).

2. pat got a really nice knife from my opa, my brother and me, and i was impressed with the amount of expression he showed in the picture (below) when he opened it. that's unusual for pat; thanks, jim, for the great suggestion and help.

3. gracie refers to the shirt i her got as a prison shirt.

4. in a truly ironic twist, my dad picked out the best clothing items that were exchanged: namely, the cute doggie jammies that evan is wearing (sorry i don't have a better picture) and a beautiful scarf that he got in india (no picture-sorry). dad also bought the toffee on a business trip to england. thornton's toffee is always a fave of mine.

5. my brother received this swanking (is that a word?) suit.

6. pat's parents made a donation to Heifer International in our name. this organization provides livestock and training to struggling families throughout the world in an attempt to help them be more self-reliant for food and income.

7. time with my family was a great gift. it was especially nice to see my brother and his wife. we also had a FABULOUS time gathering with most of my aunts and uncles (no pictures again). i truly have an amazing extended family and i appreciate their generosity. we wish we were closer to pat's family and are looking forward to the hinckley reunion next summer.

as always, i was grateful for the chance to reflect on the greatest gift of all: the birth, life and resurrection of our Savior. this has was especially tender this year with the loss of pat's niece and my uncle in 2007.

"How great the joy this sentence gives: I know that My Redeemer Lives."

decorating the tree

the whole reason for this post is because this picture just cracks me up. i love how excited lily is and how grumpy gracie looks. (i think grace was made because we told her that lily could also help put the star on the tree; she's used to traditionally having this job).


gracie did end up putting the star on top; lily was content with just handing it to her. we'll have to see how this tradition evolves.

evan (who we now sometimes refer to as fritz) had absolutely no interest in decorating the tree. he did, however, love playing with any ornanment in the form of transportation (car, wagon, motorcycle, airplane).



everyone was pretty tired out after (or rather after one box of ornaments - i did the last box on my own) decorating the tree and i had to quickly abandon my idea of taking a picture of everyone by the tree.

attempt to be annie

i haven't seen my sister-in-law since last march; in other words, no recent great pictures of my kids. here's my attempt at taking pictures of them in all their christmas sweaters (that i got super cheap last year on sale).

here's my quote that i meant to post on christmas day; it's from "A Chrismas Carol" by Charles Dickens.
Bob Cratchit's responds as follows when his wife asks him how "Little Tim" behaved at church:

"As good as gold," said Bob, "and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangeset things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk and blind men see."

finishing the race

obvioulsy, i didn't finsh that marathon of blog posts. i now have so much to write about that i'm not sure where to start. here goes my best shot, in what most likely will be a very random order.