Christmas 2009

Christmas this year was yet another adventure, which as it has in years past, contained quite a bit of driving around the bay area.

We started out by driving to Ceres on Wednesday night, Dec 23rd.

1st Event: Opening gifts with the Bakers (8am - 11am, 12/24)


2nd Event: Scott luncheon to get this group together (1130am - 2pm, 12/24):


And most importantly, to get our children together for the first time:


3rd Event: Xmas Eve gathering at Dave and Laurie's house in Modesto (3pm - 730pm, 12/24).




Following this event we drove directly to Santa Rosa, arriving just before 10pm.

4th Event: Xmas morning at the Narduzzis (830am - 1pm, 12/25).


5th Event: Visiting Jeff's Nonni & Nonno and Mario's family (who live in China) (130pm - 230pm, 12/25)




6th Event: Xmas with Jeff's Mom's side at Rick and Rocky's house (230pm - 9pm, 12/25)




These six events sum up our Xmas 2009 activities. Not bad, heh!? We had a great time but were definitely ready to wind down when it was all over. On 12/26, we took advantage of grandma and grandpa to babysit Sean while we saw Avatar in 3-D, which was very cool. My friend Dylan came with us, as well as Trisha and Beth.

On Sunday, 12/27, we left Santa Rosa for home just before 9am.

Click this sentence to check out more pictures from these two busy days of Xmas 2009. I even did captions for most of them.

Alton Kirkpatrick Narduzzi - Dec. 13th, 2009

I just uploaded 223 pictures taken over the last two weeks. The first group of those pictures was from the 20th-somethingth Alton-Kirkpatrick-Narduzzi Christmas gathering. Due to scheduling issues, it had to take place on a Sunday this year.

I wrote about this event last year, which took place at my parents house HERE. This year we went to the Kirkpatrick's house in Healdsburg.

I so wish I would have stolen an old 80's picture of the group from this gathering, but didn't think of it when I was in Santa Rosa. It would have been great to include an old photo of us all as kids and of our parents looking a tad younger ;). But I didn't... so we move on...

First, here are the originals:




The Additions (with the originals). We used the timer on the camera to get everyone in:



I'm so happy we make sure to schedule this event each year. I look forward to many more in the future as well as a continually growing group!

Bosco Update...

As you faithfuls know, Bosco had knee surgery in mid November. Following surgery, his shaven left back leg was stitched up and in more pain than ever. When we set him on the grass to pee, he hobbled around on three legs, not even letting his sore knee tough the ground... After all, it had just been cut into, had a wire placed in it, and then sewn back up.

Five weeks later, we are thrilled to report that Bosco is doing much better. His walk still has a small hitch in it, but he is noticeably more active and spirited than he's been in a long time. He can easily jump on the couch, or up on our bed, and has no problem going up and down the stairs; Just like old times. Sometimes he gets a little too excited and ambitious and we have to calm him down, or even put him in the crate for a little time-out. We are still worried that the wrong move could damage the surgery before the tissue around it has a chance to fully strengthen.

We are hopeful that by mid-January, Bosco will be walking completely fine, like before the injury. We will no longer take him to the park and let him tear after a chucked frisbee, but we hope to start walking him again. Back in the day we used to take him on some pretty long walks, and at only six years of age, we still think he has many more long walks in him.

Cold Weather

I remember one Santa Rosa winter morning in the mid-late 90's something unfortunate happened.... It was cold weather related... the cold weather today reminded me of it.

That high school day morning, the windsheild of my trusty white 1986 Mazda 626 was totally frozen over. In fact, my helpful mom probably had to run out and throw a jug of water on it as I revved the engine and ran the windshield wipers just so I could see. This was very common. I had zero period so left for school especially early, and this day it was especially cold.

That day, little did I know, the door was also frozen shut! When I attempted to open the door it wouldn't open, so I pulled harder. Didn't open again. So I pulled even harder. Still wouldn't open. Then I pulled so hard I broke the handle! The chinsy handle was connected to the inside of the door by two bars of plastic. After this incident, it was now hanging by only one. Just great! Like that would ever get fixed. But it sure would be an annoyance as long as I drove the car.

I drove the car for a couple more years, including the third quarter of my freshman year of college when I finally convinced my parents to let me take a car to school. All through that time, I had to deal with the fate that pulling a little too hard on a frozen car door handle that one cold morning brought me.

Cold Weather... I'll never forgive you for that.