Wrapping up 2015, Welcoming 2016

- December 30, 2015

It's that time again...putting the finishing touches on 2015 and looking ahead to 2016. This year went by the blink of an eye, it seems!

Christmas is all wrapped up (pun intended?!), and Cam and I have been enjoying a quiet week at home. Unfortunately, much to his chagrin, Mark had to work Monday-Wednesday, this week, and Annalisse is enjoying the mid-80s temps of Orlando with Alex's family (stinker!). Christmas was nice, but pretty low-key overall, with the realization that our family keeps getting smaller and smaller - a far cry from the cast of thousands when I was growing up. On Christmas day, in fact, there was only four of us for dinner - me, Mark, Cam, and Grandma Pat - as Annalisse flew out on Christmas day (her flight was supposed to leave at 1pm but was delayed because of technical difficulties until 6pm - not pretty). So, since we were such an intimate group we celebrated with lobster tails....yummmmm!!!

Christmas morning we hosted with the Nara, Lena and Ken or breakfast (Jim was sick - blah!), but we certainly missed Mom Shiao being with us. We also had the pleasure of seeing our Versprille relatives on Christmas Eve at Aunt Mary/Uncle Peter's, and the Boston Versprilles on Sunday night. On Saturday, we headed up north for our Greco family celebration, with just us girls, husbands, and kids (but no Drew (working), Tony (North Carolina) or Annalisse (Florida). We had a rousing game of BINGO, which was tons of fun with the high stakes of 50 cents a game. It's so much fun to spend time with both sides of our family!!

So, this week finds us relaxing, catching up on TV shows and reading, and eating well.

Theme for 2015? Looking back it was another year of connecting with old friends. I kept expectedly and unexpectedly running into former MCHS Class of '81 classmates. It was fun and freaky. Maybe it's a preview for our 35th reunion coming up in the summer of '16.

What do I hope for 2016? TO SELL MY SON-OF-A-PUPPIN' MOTHER'S HOUSE. I suppose I should go up north and plant St. Joseph in the front yard. Seriously.

At the end of May, Cam will complete his Master's degree (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE), and 2016 will also hopefully (if all goes well) find us traveling to Ireland the first week of June to meet Annalisse after her stint in Italy. We are soooo looking forward to that, it should be tons of fun.

Heading into January I'm looking forward to the usual low-key winter hibernation activities: reading and sitting by the fire (oh yeah, and working). Blessings upon you and your family for a wonderful, healthy, and happy 2016!!