Well, first of all folks, Happy New Year from all of us dolcezzitos. We hope you ushered it in with grace & loads of fun. We headed down to Atlanta to spend our Christmas with parents, brothers, sisters and friends. We passed through the Smoky Mountains for about 3 nights and it was wondrous and mysterious, just like the mountains should be. We had about 5 inches of snow the night before we were to peel out of there, and we almost didn’t make it, but our little Volkswagen bug thought he could & so, he did. This was Pema’s first Christmas, and she is my parent’s first grandchild, so you can imagine the times, they were glowing and special, just like Christmas should be. Christmas always brings back vivid and magical memories, those filled with anticipation for the great big fat jolly man to load up his sleigh and come sweeping through the cold clear sky and deliver loads of gifts. We would always leave out cookies and milk and they would always be cleaned up by the morning hours. My brother, sister and me all used to sleep in the same bed on Christmas Eve, it was a tortured sleepless night anxiously awaiting for the sun to rise, so we could go wake up our parents, who for sure, had just gone to bed.
Pema went from new person to new person and loved every bit of spoiled attention she got. On Christmas Eve, she woke up talking at 11:30pm, so I took her out to the den where my mom and sister were wrapping presents and putting them under the tree. Pema went crazy and played for the next hour with the wrapping paper, bows and tape. It was as if she wanted to be up for the moment of Christmas night striking midnight. We all screamed Merry Christmas right at 12 midnight and she slung her arms up and screeched as is she knew exactly what we were saying and exactly what she was doing. All 10 days were flooded with alive memories from my childhood. It was definitely one of the most special Christmas holidays I have passed, if not the most special.
Now we are back and ready to get into the kitchen and behind the espresso machine, to do what we love to do and welcome in a new year, a new decade. Hope your holidays were filled with magical moments and we will be seeing you around.