Yeah...so it's another window looking outside. It is NEGATIVE 8 out there with the wind chill. I am not venturing out in that cold if I don't have to!
2010 arrived with a cold front! So is it twenty ten, two thousand ten, twenty dime? What are you calling it???
I bought the kids and Bill "BeanBoozled" from Jelly Belly for Christmas. Think Harry and Ron and the all flavors jelly beans. BeanBoozled jelly beans come in 20 flavors, 10 weird and wild flavors matched up with 10 look-alike tasty flavors. Jelly Belly BeanBoozled flavor pairings are:
Canned Dog Food - Chocolate Pudding
Skunk Spray – Licorice
Rotten Egg - Buttered Popcorn
Centipede - Strawberry Jam
Booger - Juicy Pear
Baby Wipes – Coconut
Barf – Peach
Moldy Cheese - Caramel Corn
Pencil Shavings - Top Banana
Toothpaste - Berry Blue
Can you find your favorite photograph in this collage? Here they are - all 520 photographs that I have posted to the blog in the last year! Yeah, I know it was supposed to be a photo a day so that would mean 365 photos but I got a little excited some days and posted more. So sue me!
December flew by...2009 flashed before my eyes...the last decade almost gone!
In a few hours it will be 2010. TWENTY TEN! Where did the last decade go? I remember when I was partying like it was 1999 and only ten years later, I am partying like I am 99! I know, I know I said I wasn't going to do recap my year, but this is a whole DECADE! Many wonderful things happened in the last 10 years...houses bought and sold and bought; moving back and forth and back again - from NY to RI back to NY; marrying a wonderful man, to name a few! May you and yours have a happy and healthy next year and decade.
Memories of childhood came flooding back when I saw this sled at a store in town. Obviously it is not an original but I immediately associated this Flexible Flyer with hours of fun in Wilcox Park in Westerly, RI. Did you have a Flexible Flyer? Did you ever do the running belly flop onto the sled? I was out running errands today and froze...how is it I stayed outside for hours upon hours playing in the snow as a child and never thought about how cold it was? Here is a little history about the Flexible Flyer: http://www.ehow.com/about_5087180_history-antique-flexible-flyer-sleds.html
The snow has returned and we picked up Mona at the dog sitter's yesterday. She had a good Christmas but is not so thrilled with the snow. Her poor little paws get so cold because she is one of those dogs that does not have much fur on the bottom of her feet. We may have to buy her some little booties.
We stopped by to see my brother and niece on our way back to NY. She was enjoying the drums that we bought her for her birthday. My brother, however, is not! :) Just a little payback for the crazy gifts he has bought in the past!
All the snow melted in Westerly overnight so Bill and I took a ride down to the beach. It was a beautiful (but cold) day. We wandered around Watch Hill, Misquamicut and Weekapaug. I was happy to see The Ocean House rebuild in the final stages. The Ocean House was one of my favorite places when I was growing up. I used to go there when it was closed in the winter and sit on the porch to think and reflect. The Ocean House was built in the mid 1800's and torn down a few years ago because it was in such disrepair. They rebuilt it so that the outside of it looks almost identical to the original. It is one place I would like to stay before I die! Every time I look at it, I see the people of the late 1800's and early 1900's enjoying their days by the ocean. You can see what the old one looked like here: http://www.pbase.com/mybigboy/image/55932290
My sisters and I went to see Wicked tonight in Providence. It was a great show and I am glad I FINALLY got to see it. I am excited I am going to see it again in Syracuse with Bill in a couple of weeks.
Christmas Day started and ended in RI with a little of MA in the middle! It is always wonderful to see kids on Christmas morning/day with the excitement of seeing what Santa brought to them!
Some people celebrate more on Christmas day, but in the Lombardo household, it has always been Christmas eve! We had 22 people for dinner at my sister's house which included the 6 siblings,spouses, children and a variety of extended family and friends. It was a feast filled with food, family, fun and reindeer antlers!The 5 cousins, who have made their appearance in the blog before, are above in the official cousin picture of the year! It was pig pile on Jared year!
My niece went around putting her antlers on many people to get them to catch her infectious excitement...and with that smile it spread like the swine flu or the reindeer flu!
You will see money being given in multiple formats because when the kids say they want money, we can't just put it in a card and call it a day. No, we have to make it more fun. This year I made my oldest nephew play "Jeopardy" to get his money. He also got "dough" baked in Pillsbury dough because that's how he "rolls".
It was a great night and we have another year to recover before we do it all over again! I hope you Christmas was wonderful as mine!
Ok...so I am a little obsessed with the tree ornaments. Funny how both my sister and I have an OVER abundance of snowman tree decorations.
