Christmas Day

I'd meant to post this on Christmas Day but was having too much fun to remember to write anything.

Christmas Eve, my father and stepmom and brother-in-law came over and we drank and ate. I'd made my late mother's "world famous" manicotti recipe. She'd made it for years and years, and we make it at special times. It takes time to make. If you're interested, let me know and I'll post it.

I'd bought the ingredients at Lundardi's. What a GREAT place. Salvatore is my favorite checker. He teased me to no end at my bad Italian accent. It's "manicotti" not "manicatti." I said it was because my mother was from "joisey" that my accent was so bad.

I'd bought 2001 Mount Edan Vinyards Merlot, and it was perfect. It had the UMPH required for the strong flavor of the slow cooked tomato base. My brother in law brought a bottle of Sterling Cabernet & it was nice, but it would have been better with a roasted chicken. It was a calmer wine.

But why did I bring up Christmas? Oh, for memories of course. I remember how much fun I had marching in the Christmas parade when I was a Girl Scout. And once I became a teen, all the joy went out of my life :-) I had to take the SAT the same day as the parade, and I forgot, and was trying to get back home after the SAT (and you remember how DRAINED you felt???) and couldn't get back because E. Main Street was still closed. Now mind you, back then, not many Los Gatos Teens had cars (I was borrowing my Dad's '78 Buick station wagon) and no one had credit cards & few had cash. So I had maybe a few bucks. Maybe. And I can't go home, and so I went to Oak Meadow & walked around until I knew I could go back home. Boy was I pissed :-)

My favorite memory was when my brother & I would go for a walk in the afternoon. We'd go down to the 7-11, get junk food, and then toss a football around on the lawn of the library. One year, we walked all the way down to the 7-11 where Blossom Hill hits N. Santa Cruz! We could walk forever and talk about anything and everything. 7-11 was the only thing open on Christmas Day, I should mention.

My brother hasn't been home for Christmas in about 10 years. When he'd come home, we'd go to Mervyn's and I'd buy him a new wardrobe. I miss him so much. I'm glad he's happy and doing what he wants to do, and I'm so proud of him. Doesn't make me miss him any less.