December 13 Family Dinner

I spent the day with my family and my extended family. First was an early dinner at my mom's house. She made lasagna and we ate early because Geo had to DJ a party at 4pm. So let's take a look shall we...

Here's my mom talking and signing in Italian for emphasis. She is where I get all my Italian traits. Though I did learn "bafangool" from my father. The dinner was just as good as I remember from my childhood. The bread was from a local Italian deli and it was better than any bread I can remember. For dessert we had the banana cream pie Geo bought at the Farmer's Market and a Carvel Ice Cream cake for my birthday. Then Georgie started playing Christmas carols on an old keyboard that my parents bought for him back in the 1980's.

Marcy started singing as Georgie played and she can really sing. She learned singing in her church choir. My mom started singing too but Geo asked her to stop. She didn't learn by singing in a church choir. It was while this was going on that I realized I had missed out on some of my own families memories. As Geo & our mom were talking about when he got the keyboard and how he would play songs and she would sing a long, it hit me that I had already moved out and was not part of those memories. I'll admit it made me a little sad. I have admitted to myself that I regretted missing out on both of my brother's high school years. Because those are the years that a big brother could probably offer some valuable advice. It wasn't some great sadness that ruined my day, just something that made me think about it for awhile.

Here's a shot of me with Georgie's better half, Marcy. You'll notice she has a glass of wine with her while spending time with my family. I fully understand Marcy. Whatever it takes to ease the pain of a visit to the In-Laws house.

After dinner, Christmas Carols that I didn't know the words to and dessert (I had the banana cream pie & the ice cream cake, look closely, you'll see another chin beginning to grow), I stopped at Kathy's house to take a look at the furnace then met Chrissy's Aunt Marilyn for dinner at a local pub in Long Beach. We talked over dinner for a couple of hours. As usual I'm not sure what topics were discussed but lots of laughter did occur. Then back to my parents to watch Meryl Streep & Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt" while my mom took up the whole couch and snored throughout the movie. It's good to spend time with the family. I enjoyed the whole day.