There are times when I feel extremely fortunate. As you may or may not know, I am a child of divorce. My parents divorced when I was three, and each parent has been remarried for around 25 years at this point. I’m sure you could go on and on with a pop psychology diagnosis of how screwed up I am because of this, but from my perspective, it just means that I have a huge family, which is tons of fun, particularly when it comes to celebrations. Now, on my dad’s side, there’s not much extended family, so most of our gatherings focus around holidays — Thanksgiving, Passover, etc. (the Jewish side of the family) My mom, however, married one of four siblings, each of whom (with the exception of my stepfather) have at least three kids. So — there are aunts, uncles, and cousins galore. What this means is that in addition to the holidays (Christmas, Easter, etc. — this is the Italian side of the family), there are many more “other” celebrations like birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, or just an excuse to get together because family is in town. Also — the Jewish/Italian combo means that every holiday, birthday, or get-together is really just an excuse to eat. And to eat well. We’re all very good at eating well — we don’t mess around with crummy food. This year, between Thanksgiving and mid-January, I had two separate Thanksgivings, a lobster dinner, dinner on Christmas Eve, brunch on Christmas day, dinner on the day after Christmas (my birthday), and a 60th Birthday party for my Mom — all family events. Whew. No wonder I’ve started with the personal training! So gang, when’s the next excuse to eat family gathering?
Attention family — you can see pictures from Christmas and 12/26 here and from Mom’s birthday here. The rest of you can look too, if you’re interested!
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Laren- those are some seriously cute kids. Thanks for sharing.
Laren- those are some seriously cute kids. Thanks for sharing.