Fill Your Paper With The Breathings of Your Heart - William Wordsworth

Welcome to my new Blog: PERSONAL WRITES. This site will still be as up close and personal in sharing as much of my heart as humanly possible.

I hope all of you had a great Holiday. I was blessed this year to spend Christmas Eve with my Italian side of the family in Tampa. It made my heart sing and my head spin with the beautiful noise of Italians speaking over each other, hands moving in different directions just to make a point, and the room getting louder and louder by the minute. I loved every minute and thanked God I was there with them. So, I’m thanking my cousin Debbie for opening her heart and home to all of us. And I won’t make your mouth water by describing all the great food.

Believe it or not, this was the first time my son and his wife had the opportunity to celebrate Christmas with that side of the family. When he was little, he spent those holidays with his father. As an adult, my son would divide himself every other year at one house in Indiana or mine. And for all these years, I’ve always hosted a Christmas Eve at my house, so it was always a conflict to be with the Italians.

 I am so grateful to have been invited to be a part of that side of my family. I’ve missed that vitality and sincere demonstration of love in its purest form since my mother died.  Italians don’t hold anything back, as my previous blogs have demonstrated in a quieter way. You can’t always hear my words or see my hands moving, but I’m hoping you can feel them.

My husband, on the other hand, was huddled in a corner, holding his head in his hands, to block the noise and confusion. He claimed he was getting a headache. I merely asked him to pretend he was at the clubhouse at Southport, drinking with his buddies yelling across the table to be heard over the music. It’s the same thing, right?

On Christmas Day, my beautiful daughter by marriage to Dave, hosted a wonderful dinner at her house. Again, I felt blessed to be with my husband’s side of the family and having my son and daughter-in-law with me as well. Two holidays in a row, I was beside myself.

I made manicotti from scratch with tomato sauce and Cathy, Dave’s ex-wife, brought the steaks. Yes, isn’t that wonderful?  We had all recently taken a cruise together celebrating Dave’s 60^th birthday and it resulted in opening more doors to include everyone in the Dundas Household. To me this is the real gift we all shared on Christmas Day. We were joined in love and gratitude for all of our blessings.  I thought about Granny Mom that day because she had always been the thread that bonded us together. She would have been so proud to have seen us all in such harmony. Personally, I believe she did.

Now the New Year is upon us and all I can say is Be Kind, Be Loving and most of all Be Forgiving.