Happy New Year

   The bambini's and I would like to wish you all a safe and Happy New Year - may you make some of the best holiday memories tonight!! 
   We have so many of the great, family New Year's we have spent with friends and neighbors over the years...we always like to stay home or walk next door to be with friends, make some good food to share and play games.  Kim always took things up a notch, as you might imagine, whether bringing her Tuscan bean dip, twice baked potato skins or some other cullinary masterpiece!  And for the kids, well, you can imagine that they all had hats to wear, necklaces, noismakers, etc.  She'd also get them their own bottle of bubbly to pop at midnight and make special desserts - like mini tiramisu.  When they were younger, she'd lead them in a parade around the house, outside to set off poppers and back through the whole house, the kids squealing and following her lead.
    In the morning, on New Year's Day, she'd typically make us a big breakfast - french toast using panetone, handmade at Viro's Italian Bakery - thanks Vito!, bacon, hashbrowns and coffee.
    Kim taught me, over the years, that family truly comes first.  I used to want to do something fun, exciting, exhilerating on New Year's Eve every year...and Kim came to show me, that being with my family is all that, especially when you leave a lasting, good memory, in the minds of your children.
    When we were still dating, we'd like to get downtown Philly to see the mummer's parade - if you've never seen that, it is majestic and comical all at once - try you tubing it to see if it comes up.  We'd have a lot of fun in Philly, watching the parade, the people and then walking the streets looking for another great place to grab a bite to eat.
     Before we built the beautiful family we have, we'd enjoy going out to eat on New Year's Eve and then finding a place to be alone to ring in the New Year together.  Although, sometimes we'd get together with her sister Terri and her husband Todd, which was always a good time too.  I remember we all got a hotel room together once and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning and Terri and I both had to go to work fairly early on New Year's Day, but we didn't let it slow us down!
    They've all been fun...but none so memorable or special as the ones we've shared with our children, as family, staying home or nearby to enjoy being together.
     We'll continue that tradition tonight, with neighbors and friends coming to our home, to ring in the New Year with the bambini's and me...Cody has cleaned up the garage and made some fun games for the kids to play together.  Mostly revolving around the plethora of Nerf guns they got for Christmas!  They'll play ping pong, too.  I did remember to pick them up their own bottle of bubbly, too.
     This morning, as we ate breakfast at Bruegger's, we talked about how we looked forward to 2011, putting 2010 behind us...the hopes we have, for school, for friends and for each other...and these guys have a lot of that...hope.
      Thank you for all that you did for our family in 2010...and, once again, Happy New Year!

      Love,
           Dave
 'In the Lord, I put my trust...'
                      Psalm 11