PA or Bust

Today we made our way from NY to PA for the last leg of our Christmas Vacation.

We said goodbye to Grandma and Papa around 12:30 and headed for Nicholson, PA.

We drove a very tightly packed car from 12:30 to 4:00. There was very little traffic except around the GerorgeWashington Bridge (surprise) and we decided to take a short break when we reached the Delaware Water Gap. After a quick tour of the facilities and some nursing time for joey we hit the road again and made it to Grammy and Popop's house by 6:30. No major issues but it take a little longer than the estimated 3 hours and 51 minutes.

Since we've been here we've been experiencing some technical difficulties with the wireless access on the modem. This might be the last entry for a little while. Please check back soon for more updates!

Dashing Through the Mall

Today we went to the mall to exchange a coat. Not a big deal.
First we stopped for lunch at Burger King.
Then we got to a VERY crowded mall...

...bought a new hat for Joey...

...had some ice cream...

...and headed home to have some meatballs and spaghetti and watch The March of the Wooden Soldiers. It was a very nice day.

Same Old Same Old

Nothing new to report.

Christmas Day Part 2: Christmas Prime

Christmas Day has come at last. My kids were very excited when they got up. Carmellina was the first one down. When she saw the spread my parents made she froze in place and yelled “Howy macwel! Wook at aw dose presents!”*

A few broken toys later we made our way over to my grandmother’s house to spend the day. Once again, the complications of 15 adults and 3 kids (instead of 7 adults and 7 kids like it used to be) make the holidays pretty tough. Every time someone gets married they have another person’s house to travel to on the holidays. Since all of my cousins and I met our spouses in college none of live anywhere near our in-laws. This year, though, we all managed to be in one place at one time and grandma was very happy, if not a little exhausted.

I think grandma made enough food to feed the neighborhood. We ate what we could and we’ll be eating what we can until we’re sick from it.

But all in all it was a festive day filled with food, gifts, food, games, food, family, food and food. We left grandma’s house by 8 and I finished my night off with a little nausea and a Gaviscon and seltzer cocktail.

It was good to see my cousins again, though and I hope they all made it (or make it) to their in-laws’ houses safely to continue their holidays as we’ll be doing this Friday.

Merry Christmas everybody.











*“Holy mackerel! Look at all those presents!”

Christmas Eve Around the World…In My Mother's Kitchen

This year we spent Christmas Eve with Aunt Cira’s family. Something I’ve noticed as I get older is that things were easier for our parents when we were kids and simply did what we were told to do – or at least pretended to. Holidays are a prime example of this. There was never any question of whose house we’d spend it at, which of us would be there, what would be served and so on. We went where mom and dad went, period.

Now that the children are all grown (and me with a wife and children of our own) things a little more complicated…and by “little” I mean a lot. This year Christmas Eve was at my parents’ house and, as I said, Aunt Cira and her family came over. The big question this year was what to serve for dinner. With 10 adults and 2 toddlers (who don’t get a vote) planning a meal is a lot more difficult.

The votes were for Chinese, sausage and peppers, and KFC. In the spirit of the peace of Christmas, we went with all 3. We also added to it a spinach pie, antipasto, hummus, baba ghannouj, rum balls, 7 layer taco dip, and a gingerbread house. We also had Bailey’s Mint Chocolate, hot buttered rum and Alka-Seltzer on tap.

My favorite thing to watch during this holiday is the interaction between my daughters and other adults when they talk about Santa Claus. We don’t “do” Santa Claus with our kids. My wife and I decided before they were born that we would pretend with them about it, but there were far more important things about Christmas for them to believe in. If we were going to concentrate our efforts on getting them to believe in something then we rather it was something real, like the birth of Christ, than in a fantasy.

Our girls still have fun with Santa, like they do with fairies and dragons and fraggles and things, but they know he isn’t real. The humorous part of this is that most people don’t know this about my kids and ask them the obligatory Santa questions: “Did you write your letter to Santa?” “Did Santa bring you what you wanted?” “Did he eat the milk and cookies?” They also tend togive them spontaneously constructed rules like: "Santa won't come if you don't eat your beef and broccoli." Carmellina, my 3-year-old, just says yes to everything. Rosemary, who is 5, likes to argue with people about it. I sit back and enjoy the whole scene. Last year, in an attempt to keep the peace, one family member caught herself talking about Santa again and try to cover for it by telling Rosemary that Santa worked for Jesus.

So once again, this Christmas Eve the kids went to sleep on a sugar high and very excited, if not a little confused about why all of these adults still don’t know the truth about Santa.

How Sweet It Is!

Sunday was my dad's 56th birthday. We had a nice quiet morning while he opened his presents. After that things got a little busy.

We took two cars out to Brooklyn to visit with my Mother's cousins, the Barone's (Joe, Karen, and their kids Joe and Nicole). Joe and Karen made a very generous invitation to my mother, Joanna, and her whole family (husband, daughter, son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren) and my mother's twin sister, Angela, and her whole family (husband, daughter, son-in-law, other daughter, other son-in-law, and son) and my Uncle Dom.

Sometime ago, at a birthday party for my great-aunt Jackie, Joe mentioned to my wife and I that we had never had real pizza until we'd had pizza from Brooklyn. I conceded that I had never tried any. Although my mother was from Brooklyn I can count the number of times she's made pizza for us on zero fingers.

This trip was for two reason, then: 1-to get together with family (and a lot of it) and 2-to have the chance to try some Brooklyn pizza.

We arrived around one to a very nice home right up the road from the Verazzano bridge. By the time all of the family arrived there were 23 people in the house ranging in age from 4 months to 88 years. For those Italians out there reading this, I don't have to tell you how LOUD it was. For the benefit of my non-Italian readers let me just say that the sound waves from the noise we produced is probably still making its way past our moon. Some day, light years from now, an alien race is going to pick up signals that translate into an argument over sfingi and dough-boys on St. Joseph's day and the correct pronunciation of the word "dog."

Karen informed us that she had ordered 8 pizzas from 4 different local places so we could get a sample of each. The pizza was (of course) excellent. In the interest of science I selflessly ate no less than 8 slices. I cast my lot for Nino's pizza. It had a good crust, a delicious sauce, and a good ratio of cheese to surface area. Also it was the most like the pizza we had in Sicily on our honeymoon.

Afterwards we had fruit (2 baskets full), cake (2 of them), cookies (about 4 pounds) and coffee and tea. We rolled our way to the door around 6:30 and headed for home stuffed, deaf, and content. It was a wonderful visit and our heartfelt thanks go to Karen and Joe for their hospitality.

Check out the slide show to the right for some pics of the day's feasting.

Lazy Day

Saturday was a laaazzzzyyyyy day. Other than Rosemary mildly burning her finger with a match nothing really happened until Aunt Cira, Aunt Marie, Darlene, Jimmy and Tiffany came by at night.



We exchanged some gifts, had some cake and coffee and they left.



Yep. It was a laaazzzzyyyyy day.



Oh and then we saw some Christmas lights.

NY or Bust!

So we made our way this morning to old New York and to grandma and Papa's house. It was a nice traffic-free trip, and I think we actually made it in under 3 hours!

The kids took no time at all to make a complete mess of the house with their toys, but I guess that's to be expected. They had an added treat when Papa, who is now a bus driver, came home with a real school bus! Rosemary, Carmellina and an unnamed photographer (ahem) got to take a trip around the block on their very first school bus ride!

They really had fun. Later that night Aunt Cira came by to see Joey (check out the video on the right) and plan the menu for our Christmas Eve dinner.

Christmas Day Part 1: On The Homefront

So today was the Sinagra family's Christmas day. We exchanged presents with each other so we could enjoy one another and our gifts without the deluge of presents and family that we'll face once we get to the grandparents' houses.

It was a nice relaxing day. I didn't get out of my pj's until 4pm and even that was just so I could buy some fish food.

I think the kids were really very happy with their presents. Jess and I spent the morning playing video games watching Little House on the Prairie, listening to new Cd's. I, of course had to assemble the Light Bright for Rosemary, the 3-in-1 gym for Joey and building a huge marble run for Carmellina.

All that remains now is to pack for the next week and a half. Let's see if we can get all of our clothes, gifts, and toys into the car and still have room for passengers after we get more clothes, gifts, and toys!