I’m not sure why this photo makes me laugh so much.
This was a day when I had the boys and we went out to the book store. They had gotten books and a couple magazines with gift cards. We went and had lunch at a Coney Island place and they brought all of their loot in when them.
I’m pretty sure I just picked this Scooby Doo Magazine up and started adlibbing silly things about the characters. “Oh, look, Velma lost her glasses again.” “Hi, I’m Fred Jones. Let me tell you how an ascot can make you a hit with the chicks.” “Zoinks! And other crazy one word exclamations for everyday use.”
I don’t recall if my son took this with his camera or if I asked him to take it. Either way, the ridiculousness of it cracks me up.
I’m not sure why I am just now getting around to writing a quick life recap. I guess I didn’t think I was as busy as I was.
Prior to Easter, my friend Margaret stopped by to see the kids. They always love when she stops by. She was passing by our house on her way home, so she made a pit stop. In a couple weeks, she is taking the kids, Sam and I to the Detroit Opera House to see Bugs Bunny. They actually have a live orchestra that will play along with the cartoons. I cannot wait for this.
The kids with Aunt Margaret
It was a very cold Easter day! It was very windy. Some places were still flooded from the recent rains. The weather did not stop Nana from hiding eggs for the kids to find outside. They really lucked out this year, because it was just them. Their cousins were on a trip, so they loaded up on candy-filled eggs!
We had quite a meal, too. Sam’s mom had turkey, ham, potatoes, mac and cheese and loads of desserts. It was a nice, quiet day with good conversation.
I had hoped to get together with my boys before Easter, but Dimitri wasn’t feeling well. We were able to get together on Easter Monday for dinner. Ella was with her mom, so it was me and my three sons. We went to a nice place with a rustic feel to it. We had a really great meal and quite a few laughs.
The biggest change for me over the last week or so is having to get used to my new appliance.
I picked up my hearing aids and have been wearing them every day. Honestly, they make me feel like I don’t need them. Why? Because everything seems so loud now! My goodness, my kids talking, yelling or screaming make me wince. God forbid I am in a small room with them or in the car. Everything is magnified like three times.
I have to go back next week to see how they are working. At that time, they will set up Bluetooth. Yeah, high tech stuff. I’ll be able to answer my phone and it will go right to my hearing aids. I’m not sure what else they can do, but I suppose I will find out.
I suppose those are the big highlights from the week. Hopefully, you have had a great week, too.
Today is a day to celebrate the boys. On National Son’s Day I celebrate my three sons.
What a blessing they are! Dante’ and Dimitri are adults now and doing quite well. They have each come a long way. Andrew is not only my youngest son, but my youngest child. He is thriving at preschool and gets smarter by the day.
Happy Son’s Day to each one of you. I’m so proud of you all and honored to be your father.
Today’s photo was taken during one of my brother’s visits home. I chose it because it is one of my favorite photos of my dad, my brother and me.
It’s hard to believe, but I think this photo is about 20+ years old. I’m guessing it was taken around 2006ish. I remember my brother, his partner and my dad drove up and we met for breakfast or lunch. This was taken in the parking lot of the coney island we went to.
I am sure that my ex wife and my oldest son were there, too. I don’t think my second oldest was born yet. It’s hard to say. I think I’m pretty close to the right year because I am wearing a radio station jacket. I bet this was from my second turn at B95 which would have been around 2006. They fired me after my second son was born in 2007.
Anyway, I truly love this photo of the three of us. We all look so young here. My brother and I still have some hair, and my dad looks great. I wish we could all get together more.
*This is a reworking of a blog I originally wrote in 2018
For as long as I can remember, Christmas Eve was always spent with Grandma and Grandpa P. when we were kids. I don’t necessarily know that there was any particular reason for this, I only know that from a very young age, this was the tradition. (2025 – Over the past few years, I have discovered that many Italian families have their big celebration on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day.)
I also remember that dreaming of a White Christmas was hardly ever necessary. If my memory serves me right, as a kid, there was maybe one or two Christmases that were we didn’t have snow. It seems that there was a stretch of a few years recently where we were lucky to get a White Christmas. That never seemed to be an issue as a kid.
The excitement for Christmas Eve was a bit different from Christmas Day. Grandma and Grandpa always seemed to ask for our Christmas list early …. like July early! She obviously planned ahead and shopped throughout the year, which must have saved her a ton of hassles finding things. We usually were dressed and ready to go to Grandma’s house by 2 or 3pm. We would arrive knowing at least one thing we could expect to receive – a winter coat. She got us one every year (which we hated, because she’d take us out shopping for it as early as October!).
How about that 8-Track tape case, huh?!
Christmas Eve dinner was always the same with very little variance. Ravioli was the main dish. There would be a feast that included breaded steak, sausage or meatballs, dinner rolls, and just about every other things you could imagine. Grandma prided herself on being able to make dinner that could feed an army! She always made her Ammoglio (pronounced Ah-Moy-Gyoo) sauce to go on top of the steak. This was made up of olive oil, tomatoes, some seasonings and a WHOLE LOT of garlic! I never ate it as a kid, but as an adult – I love it! Everyone who ate it smelled like garlic for like a week!
Dad with the ammoglio sauce and bread. No doubt he was going to be dipping!
There was always a dish with olives (green and black), sweet pickles, and veggies. You would also find a big bowl with pistachios, and another one filled with nuts of all kinds. The nuts were still in the shells, so you had to crack them open with the old silver nutcracker that was probably older than my grandma! I can’t remember, but I think there was also a bowl or two of M&M’s and Hershey’s Kisses out to snack on, too.
For dessert – there were ALWAYS cannoli! Early on I think she made them from scratch (I may have her recipe somewhere), but I really remember her getting them from the Italian bakery. There were also always plenty of cookies! Grandma spent days baking them and by the time she was done, I think she had like 400 dozen! She used to store them in these big tin cans that Better Made Potato Chips used to come it. She always made chocolate chip for me, oatmeal for my brother, cut out sugar cookies and these little ice box cookies that none of us ate … well, I can’t say that … we fed them to the dogs and they seemed to like them a lot!
I recall the year that my grandmother bought my brother and I every Star Wars Figure that was available. There were one or two that were very difficult to find, but she found them. We each got a set! Then there was the year she bought us the Atari 2600! This was long before the fantastic graphics of Play Station or X-Box. The games on this thing were very primitive as far as graphics went! Oh, the hours I spent playing Sea Hunt, Pac-Man, and Pitfall!! Even after all of the gifts were open, there was always an envelope for us. For many years there would be a crisp $100 bill in it. $100 was a LOT of money and I was always amazed at how new the bill was – it was almost like she had printed it herself!
My brother and grandma with Star Wars figures
One Christmas Eve I remember particularly well. Unlike previous years, when we came in the house, we were ushered immediately downstairs. Usually, we went into the sun porch off the back of her house, where tables would be set for dinner and food would be out. This year, dinner was in the basement. We hardly EVER went in the basement, so I wasn’t sure what was happening. In the middle of dinner, we heard a noise from upstairs. Someone was walking (actually stomping, I think) around upstairs. I think she had my great Uncle Ralph come in and do it. My grandma said that Santa was probably up there leaving presents. It was well before midnight, and you know how kids are – we knew that Santa came at midnight and we questioned it. Grandma said she had called and “made special arrangements with Santa”. Looking back on it now, I can totally see Grandma like Don Corleone of the Godfather making “special arrangements” with Santa! At any rate, soon after the noise was gone, we were allowed to go upstairs and into the porch. I am sure I am over exaggerating when I say that the porch looked like Toys R Us! It was loaded with presents and a bike for both my bother and me. I don’t even know how we got the presents home!
Usually after dinner and presents, my brother and I would go watch movies, play the video games, or play with our toys, while the adults went back into the porch to smoke and play cards. Pinochle was what they usually played, although I seem to remember one year they also played gin rummy. Depending on the people who were present, sometimes dad will play his guitar, Uncle Sam would play his accordion, or grandma would sit on the old Hammond organ and sing songs and play. Grandma played by ear and had no sense of tempo (or time signature for you musical folks), so she was either hitting wrong notes or playing ahead or behind everyone else. From a child’s perspective, the music wasn’t very good, so my brother and I would go to another room.
My dad playing guitar after a few alcoholic beverages
When I had finally learned how to play pinochle, I was a welcome addition to the card table. My dad played, but he was usually done after a few games, so I gradually took his place as a “regular” at the table. I LOVED this! We could play forever! Grandpa and mom were always partners. He would often over bid my mom because he thought he had a good hand, then they would lose the hand. They would get so mad at each other. I can still hear my grandpa saying, “I had a good hand!”
Mom and Grandpa. I may have been mom’s partner for this game because Grandpa is next to her.
I remember before I started playing, they would play cards until well after midnight. My brother and I would be struggling to stay awake, our job was to remind mom and dad of how late it was getting – God forbid Santa not come because we weren’t home and in bed! Dad would constantly remind us that he paid for Santa to bring toys, and Santa would “circle the house” until we were home and in bed before delivering the toys.
When I began working in radio, it seemed that I was always on the air on Christmas Eve. One of the “on air” traditions that I started was to call grandma and ask her how the preparations for dinner were coming. She would go into detail about what was on the menu and what time dinner was. She would often razz me on the air and warned me not to be late. She was an instant hit. It was amazing how many people would call and ask if I was gonna check in with Grandma!
I can hear her laugh in this picture.
Over the years, the faces of Christmas Eve changed. Some years there were more relatives than others. Aunt Rose became a staple after Uncle Sam passed away. After Grandpa passed away, friends of the family often came by and the pinochle games continued. As the years passed, there seemed to be more reflecting on Christmas Eves of the past with laughter and sadness.
Over the last few years, Christmas and Christmas Eve has undergone many more changes. While many of the voices of Christmas Eve have been silenced, those wonderful memories warm my heart. I look back at the memories fondly, and I also look forward to the new memories that will be made.
This year (2018), my two amazing sons will be with us Christmas Eve morning to open presents with us. They are older, but still full of excitement. When they saw the gifts under the tree their reactions were typical for their age. Dimitri, 11, saw the big box and said “Whoa, is that for us?”, while Dante’, 16, said “Is this all of the presents, or will there be more?” (2025 – Dante’ is now 23 and Dimitri 18)
I sit writing this as everyone in the house is still asleep. Sam and I have joked around at what is in the big box under the tree more than once. The camera is ready to capture the moments from this Christmas Eve, ready to provide them both with memories to look back on themselves in years to come. I hope that someday, they will look back at Christmas Eve as one of their favorite holidays, just like I do.
One of many Christmas Eves at Grandma’s house. This was when we actually dressed up for holidays!
With the arrival of Ella in 2020, Christmas Eve with my boys continued. They would be with us until later afternoon and then they would return to their mom to prepare for Christmas day.
After that year, it sort of became a “What day can we all get together?” kind of thing. Dante’ was working and was spending more time with his friends. Dimitri didn’t come over much after Dante’ turned 18. When that happened, I began to look forward to the days that all of my kids were together with me.
2022 – My dad and Rose also came over that year.
We are still trying to work everything out for this year. I’m hoping that they can come Christmas Eve. My brother will be coming up that day and will be around for the last part of Christmas Eve and the early part of Christmas Day. I’m not sure when the last time the boys saw him. Fingers crossed for a wonderful Christmas Eve 2025!
*The majority of this blog was written in 2019 and has been updated with additional photos and stories.
(2025) The kids were watching some Mickey Mouse holiday special on Disney+ recently. I cannot recall the name of the song, but some of the lyrics are a perfect lead in to this blog:
“Every time I see a Christmas tree Something lights up inside of me My heart is filled with electricity There’s reason to cheer Christmas is nearly herе“
Radio stations across the country will often begin playing all Christmas music after Thanksgiving. The adult contemporary station I worked at always did. Of course, Sirius XM’s Christmas music channels also start popping up around the same time or earlier.
(2019) One song always really sticks out to me each Christmas, mainly because it really isn’t a Christmas song – Linus & Lucy (AKA the Charlie Brown theme) from the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fun song that immediately makes be think of Charlie Brown and the gang, but it is a song that is used in basically every Charlie Brown special. Personally, the soundtrack to the Charlie Brown Christmas special is one of my favorites.
O Tannenbaum is the instrumental that kicks off the album. Many know the song as simply “Oh Christmas Tree”. (In case you were wondering, a tannenbaum is a fir tree). It’s one of my favorite versions of the song. I had the chance to hear it over the weekend and it got me to thinking about the Christmas Tree. I recently had the chance to go through a bunch of family pictures and I was surprised at how many of them included the Christmas tree. This blog is sort of a “pictorial” blog featuring some of those pictures.
As I looked through the pictures, it was fun to see the various decorations and the toys under the tree. Bear with me, as some of the years I am guessing on …
The above picture is of my dad in 1951. He would be 5 here. As I look at this picture, I see a little of me, my brother, and my oldest son in my dad.
The above picture is my mom. Just a guess, but this is probably from 1953 or 1954, as she looks 5-6 years old here. I think it is cute that she seems to be in pajamas and wearing dress shoes. Tinsel seemed to be really big in the 50’s! There’s quite a bit on this tree. I wonder what that “Little Painter” set is worth today….
The above picture is my dad, home on leave from Vietnam. The date is 1967. I really have no idea what that tree is made of. Eventually, my grandma had a ceramic tree that my mom made that stood about as high as the one in the photo. That would sit proudly in the same spot in the front window. This one looks … fluffy, and seems to have a strand of lights on it. Anyway, there are other pictures of my dad with both his mom and his dad next to this tree, too.
My folks told me that the local paper used to put names and addresses of servicemen who were overseas in the paper for people to send letters. Both of my parents were from the same city and my mom sent my dad letters. That is basically how they met and eventually marry. With those letters, occasional pictures were sent back and forth.
I think the above picture is one my mom sent to my dad. I am not 100% sure. I am not sure because I don’t know where this was taken. It would seem to me that this would be a picture that she would send to my dad overseas. There are some things that really jump out at me in the picture. Note the “sunbust” clock on the wall – I know my grandma had one of those. Also, note the cool Hi-Fi with the ceramic cat on it. This was a record player and radio. It probably also played 8 track tapes and stored records. I know my dad, and my grandpa each had one of them.
I know for a fact that this was taken at my grandma’s house. I know this because of the fireplace and the huge wooden fork and spoon on the wall behind the TV. In my lifetime, I don’t recall my grandparents ever putting a tree on the TV, so I am guessing this is before I came around.
One thing that really caught my eye is the “paper rack” between the fireplace and the TV. It seems like everyone in my family had one. After you finished reading the newspaper, you’d put it in the rack. Magazines would sometimes go there, too. When it got too full, they’d pull out a paper grocery bag and put everything in it to go out to the garbage.
I was born in May of 1970. I was 7 months old for my first Christmas. I am thankful that my folks took lots of pictures. A few of my favorites all come from 1970, all for different reasons.
The above picture is my and my great-grandpa. He passed away shortly after this. It is the only picture I have of him and I.
I am not 100%, but I believe this picture was taken in my mom and dad’s apartment. My dad can correct me if I am wrong. I remember that stuffed Bugs Bunny to my right very well.
I am pretty sure that this is at my grandma and grandpa’s house. What I love about this picture is a little foreshadowing. One of my favorite sports to participate in is bowling. I love that I am propped up next to a balling ball bag in this picture.
This is absolutely one of my favorite pictures of my mom and me. It was taken at my grandparents house, probably Christmas Eve. I love this picture so much, because it reminds me of another … which I will share in a few pictures.
The above is obviously from the same year. This time, I am with mom and dad. My grandma always kept her house hot, so mom took off her vest. Dad, who is ALWAYS hot, must not have felt it was too warm, because his is still on here.
One more from the same year (and you won’t have to look at that brown bowling ball bag anymore!), here is my and my grandpa. I always loved this picture of us. I was his first grandchild, and you can see just how happy he is here.
These are my mom’s parents – Grandma and Grandpa D. The date on the picture says 1970, but another scan from my brother says 1967. Not really sure. It could easily be 1970, though. It is one of my favorites of them. The tree is in the corner where my grandpa’s recliner used to always be.
The date on the above picture is October of 72, which means I am 1 here. This is at Grandma D’s house. That is my Aunt Jodi holding the bear. She is 5 years older than me. Note in the background, another Hi-Fi. My grandpa used to have big band records that I used to listen to with headphones.
The above picture was taken at our old house on Brandywine. I am about 4 here and my brother is probably just 2. The thing that stands out in this picture is the ornaments on the tree. See those diamond crocheted things? Yeah, my mom made them. She had many hobbies and this particular year, she was crocheting everything! I remember a maroon vest that she made for me. At any rate, those ornaments were two squares, with a piece of an egg carton in the middle, and a tail hanging down. I am sure she made these for many people. I remember seeing them on other family members Christmas trees.
A year later, same house, and same ornaments! You can see them a little better in this picture. I am probably 5 here, while my brother is 3. This would be the last Christmas at this house, as we moved the following year. A couple things (besides the ornaments) stand out in the picture. First, there is the organ I used to play, and mentioned in a past blog about my music lessons. Next, I remember those Ernie and Big Bird stuffed animals! Then there is that picture above the organ – it’s two horses. I think everyone in my family had that picture. Maybe a family member painted it? Finally, and this should get my wife’s OCD going, note that I am wearing the pants from one pair of PJs and the shirt from another in this picture! Good Lord!!!
The picture above has to be from 1977. My grandma bought us each a set of Star Wars figures that year. I think there were like 20 issued the first year. I remember my grandma having trouble finding the Jawa figures. This picture would have been Christmas morning, and we had gotten the figures the night before at grandma’s. If I remember right, we had the big Han Solo and Jawa dolls (pictured here) and Boba Fett and Princess Leia.
What I love most about this picture is that my mom is in it wearing this yellow robe. I have written about her yellow robe in previous blogs. She wore this thing SO much that it was stained and had tears and holes in it. She loved this robe. Eventually we bought her a new one for Christmas one year and she wore that. We assumed that she threw this one away, but after she passed away, we found it in the back of the closet! I have a “memory bear” made out of this robe.
The above has to be from 1978. If you can look past my brother’s golf pants and my wacky shirt, you will see a Tie Fighter and X-Wing Fighter. You can see the tree set up on the TV, but cannot really see the amazing display on my grandma’s mantel. Every year, she put up angels, Santa, reindeer, trees, snow and more. There was one piece that always stood out – a little mouse that was in a flower arrangement that I sent her when she was in the hospital. She put that up every year!
It obviously took my folks awhile to develop film! This is from Christmas of 78, and was not developed until August of 79! First, I love how skinny I am in this picture! Second, I remember having the sliding wooden doors that covered the doorwall. I have to chuckle because of the bowling trophy and chalice sitting on top of the door frame.
I also remember the bad paneling in the living room! I can see the Polaroid camera on the TV, the candy jar, and the glass candle sticks that my mom had. I wish I could make out more of the presents under the tree, but I remember really wanting this game. I also remember that star on the tree. It was made of hard plastic and the ends were very sharp! So sharp in fact, that it could probably be used as a weapon.
The above picture is of my dad’s folks, my Grandma and Grandpa P. This was in 1979 – I remember that was the year that everyone was taking Polaroids! At family gatherings, everyone took pictures and wrote their last name on the bottom, so they knew what pictures belonged to what family! A couple things I notice right away: The tree topper, I never understood just what the hell it was! It wasn’t a star, it was just this spaceship shaped thing that lit up! I remember the musical angels on the wall. They moved from room to room as I recall.
Then there is my Grandma’s beehive hair. She wore it this way for SO long! I also notice the pack of cigarettes in my grandpa’s pocket – you could bet they were either Lucky Strikes or Pall Malls. It looks like he is wearing a bracelet in this picture. I don’t remember him wearing one, but he did here. Just love this picture!!
The above is from 1980. This is my brother and me, with my cousins Arin and Melissa. This is at my Grandma and Grandpa D’s. A couple thoughts on this one – I am holding the very cool Coleco Head to Head Baseball game which I loved. I do not remember that bear I am holding! This is probably the year that my grandpa bought me my cribbage board, too! What is sad about this picture, is knowing that my grandpa would pass away in less than a year after this picture was taken.
Jumping many years ahead now for the above picture. Remember the picture of my mom and me by the tree from earlier? It reminds me of this picture. This is my mom and my oldest son, Dante’. This may not have been her last Christmas, I think Dante is 2 here. She loved him so much and I see the same joy in her smile here as I do in the picture of her holding me.
The above picture is about a year or so before my divorce. It’s my sons, Dante’ and Dimitri. I just love this picture because these two guys (no matter how much they may fight) really love each other. This was such a spontaneous picture and it remains one of my favorites of the boys!
The above picture is from Christmas Eve (2018) morning. Christmas Eve was always bigger than Christmas on my dad’s side of the family. The fact that I get the boys every Christmas Eve Morning to open up gifts is so special to me. I cannot wait until they can celebrate it with their sister (which would happen in February of 2020). They are going to be such great brothers to her.
The above picture is from 2018 (on the right) and 2017 (on the left). When we first got Moe (left) he got up in the tree! When Maizey came along in 2018, the fact that she was almost in the same exact spot as Moe the year before made me laugh. So I put together this comparison picture. It still makes me laugh!!
This picture (along with the song I mentioned earlier) was the reason for this blog. As I mentioned, so many favorite pictures involve the Christmas tree. I took this picture of Sam just the other night. It was her idea. The silhouette of her baby bump against the lights of the Christmas tree is just beautiful!! I posted it on Facebook (she did, too) and I mention how I cannot stop looking at it!
The reason is that it brings about so many feelings: Feelings of love for my beautiful wife. Feelings of joy and nostalgia – because it is Christmastime and the Christmas Tree. Feelings of excitement and anticipation – because the baby will be here soon. Feelings of happiness – because the picture brings a smile to my face every time I see it.
In the years ahead, I hope that more and more wonderful pictures will be captured near the Christmas tree … so I can reflect on them, too!
(2025)
Above are the boys in 2019. Dante’ would be graduating in June. Ella would be making her debut in about 2 months. I can see the ornament we got that year from Bronners. It is the cup of Hot chocolate with 5 marshmallows. Each marshmallow has our names on it – for the 5th one, it says “Baby P.”
Christmas in 2020 was strange because we were still technically in the middle of the pandemic. I was glad that everyone was well enough to be together on Christmas Eve. Ella’s first Christmas was extra special to me because with her being so young, it brought back a renewed love and excitement for the Christmas magic experienced by her.
Christmas of 2021 was fun because Ella was finally at a point where she was aware or presents and wanted to open them. It was Andrew’s first Christmas, and he was just a little over 2 months old. What I love about the above photo is her reaction to the presents under the tree. It has that “How did all these presents get here?” feel to it.
My wife almost always has the tree up Thanksgiving weekend. In 2022, Andrew was a little over a year old and he was curious about everything. Both kids were helping me that year. I was sure to give Andrew the honor of placing the tree topper that year.
I’m pretty sure that the kids had us up super early on Christmas morning of 2023. They both were excited that morning. The Barbie Castle and train table were huge hits. This photo reminds me of having to put them together into the wee hours of the morning. I just love their matching pajamas. I have to chuckle about the “cage” around the bottom of the tree to keep them and the cat away from the tree.
Last year, Christmas Eve. I love that Andrew and Ella are wearing Bluey pajamas. Bluey was a big show for them. Andrew was happy that they finally got to hold Twinkles, their elf, before he went back to the North Pole.
The boys were over earlier in the day. We always tried to get a picture in front of the tree every year. By last year, they’d grown so much that you can barely see the tree in the back. You can, however, see the snowman’s hat from the top of the tree – it makes Dante’ look like he is wearing it.
Surprisingly, I haven’t taken any picture of the kids by the tree this year. I’ll have to be sure to make that happen. I know we are trying to figure out when the boys will be able to get us all together.
The Christmas tree. It will forever be connected to warm feelings and memories for me. So that lyric I quoted earlier … it really expresses the truth:
“Every time I see a Christmas tree Something lights up inside of me My heart is filled with electricity There’s reason to cheer Christmas is nearly herе“
I love when I find a thumb drive I forgot I had. This week I was looking for a drive that had some sleep presentations on. I wanted to review the Power Point before speaking to an EEG class. What I found was a drive with some pictures of my oldest son. It was a series of pictures that we took for possible senior pictures.
Toward the end of the shoot, both of my older boys were just hanging out. There are some great candid shots in there. The one I love is this one:
I love that they were caught laughing at something. This would have been just before Covid and not too long after Sam and I were married. The divorce was tough on both of them. There were a lot of times where we had deep talks about what was going on. Those conversations were probably more than any kid their age needed to process. To see them laughing makes me smile.
Five years later, I don’t see them enough. Both now have full time jobs and lives of their own. My oldest will call more than his brother, but that’s ok. They are actually talking about finding a place where they can both split the rent. They’ve come a long way from beating the snot out of each other growing up. I truly hope that they remain close. Those sibling relationships can be such a wonderful thing.
Last week at soccer, one of the drills that we did with the team was like bowling. We set up cones with one in front, two behind that, and three in the back. The kids had to throw the ball overhand and try to knock down the cones. Then they had to kick the ball at the pins to try to knock them all down.
The other coach with me asked if any of the kids had ever been bowling before. Ella raised her hand as said that she had, “but I had help rolling the ball.” I laughed because I knew exactly what she meant.
There is a bowling alley close by and I took my oldest sons and Ella there. She had to be about one at the time. The boys were so helpful that day. She loved watching the ball roll slowly down the lane and hit the pins.
I remember how cute those tiny bowling shoes looked on her. I honestly didn’t think they’d have them in her size! It’s been too long since we all went bowling, and we should go soon. I doubt I could even throw the ball anymore, but it’d be fun to watch the kids….
The Oxford Dictionary defines a “rite of passage” this way: a ceremony or event marking an important stage in someone’s life, especially birth, puberty, marriage, and death.
Wikipedia says: “A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status is society.“
Some popular rites of passage include:
Getting a driver’s liscence
Completing toilet training
Getting married
Retirement
Getting baptized.
Graduation
While the rite of passage I am talking about today may not be as big an event as the above mentioned, it means a lot to me. It is one that has been passed down to all the males in my family. My grandfather introduced them to my dad. My dad introduced them to me. I introduced them to my two oldest sons, and now my youngest son.
Thursday night, Andrew was fighting wearing his CPAP. This is a regular occurrence that requires some bargaining by mom or dad to get him to do so. Usually, it means he can watch his tablet for a bit or a short show on TV. (Yes, I am aware of how bad TV and screen time before bed it, but a dad’s gotta do what a dad’s gotta do!) My wife’s suggestion floored me. It made me giddy!
“What if dad puts on the Three Stooges for you?”
Did I truly hear what I think I heard? Yes. Yes, I did.
So my son crawled up into bed with us and I found an episode on Youtube.
He chuckled and laughed out loud through the entire episode. Moe slapping Larry or bonking Curly on the head made him laugh almost uncontrollably. I laughed along with him and the two of us, just like his brother’s before him, bonded over slapstick comedy. When I left for work on Friday, he told me that he can’t wait to watch “the three funny guys” again with me.
My wife posted her own picture on social media with the following caption:
“I guess I didn’t know that the love of The Three Stooges was a genetic thing when I married Keith. Now here I am stuck watching this stupidity as a bribe for Andrew to wear his CPAP machine.”
This is a true rite of passage. I couldn’t be more proud! Atta boy, son! The torch has been passed ….
Wednesday night into Thursday, we got hit with some decent snow. Travel was treacherous and they were telling folks to stay home. Naturally, people with a sleep study scheduled, still showed up! Urgh!
I loved playing in the snow as a kid. We made snow forts and such and would be frostbitten when it was time to come inside.
I have yet to make a good snow fort with my kids. That’s not to say that we didn’t have some fun in the snow, because we did. We did a lot of sledding and just snow silliness.
This was one of my favorite pictures. My two older boys and I sledding down the street from our first house. The hill wasn’t too big, but it was fun for them.
They really loved just playing in the snow. Just like my two younger kids.
I have always loved the look on Ella’s face in this one. All I was doing was pulling her around the yard. She loved it.
Andrew is all about going outside no matter what the weather! He’s a snowballer. He loves to throw snow balls.
I’m sure I have plenty of other snowy shots, but for now, these warm my heart on a cold Michigan day.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 