The family had a fun, action-packed, holiday this year and Papa decided to pack it all into one post!
Joke & the girls spent Christmas eve day, preparing Sushi for dinner – not quite the traditional Seven Fishes. On Christmas morning we were awoken a little earlier than we would have liked (6:30am), to the crash of our tree falling. Mama and I spent an hour righting it (plus tying it down) and cleaning up the mess, but soon it was time to bring the girls down for gifts. Later in the day, we had Christmas dinner at Nonno & Nonna’s with Uncle Sal, Aunt Susan, Jessica, Elena and Zia.
Though we didn’t have a White Christmas, we did have a white day-after Christmas, when it snowed over 12 inches (it was hard to measure since the wind blew it around quite a bit). But that didn’t keep us from getting to work – painting Gabriella’ s room “Asparagus green.” It was her Christmas present, and though we had some reservations about the color, once it was up, Gabriella’s vision was clear, and the room looks great! Now, after a trip to Ikea, she’s accessorizing it with curtains, linens and baubles.
The rest of the week was spent down the shore (where they got even more snow than we did). We had to shovel our way to the front door, but the beach was beautiful with a blanket of snow on the dunes. Papa was very happy with his productivity (installing shower fans and running new wiring for new light fixtures) and was only heard once making proclamations that needed some Orbitz gum cleaning 🙂
New Year’s Eve was spent at Ocean City’s First Night celebration. It started at 4pm, but we started our time there at 6:00. We went to performances of Japanese Drumming, Broadway Show Tunes (by request), a Goth Juggler and a set and a half, of Trout Fishing in America, who played our requested song, “Proper Cup of Coffee.” From there we went outside to watch the fireworks display at midnight over the north end of the boardwalk. Luckily, our car was very close by, and we quickly got the girls home and in bed for they were almost turning into pumpkins, they were so tired!
Needless to say we slept late on New Year’s day, but we capped off the action packed week with our first dip in the Atlantic Ocean for 2011 when we participated in Ocean City’s version of the Polar Bear plunge. Elisa opted to document the event, but Gabriella, Mama and Papa went in the 33degree water with the hundreds of other crazy participants. Papa thought it all went too quickly, so he went in for a second go 🙂
Watch a video of our First Dip, 2011 and Papa’s Second Dip, 2011.
