Our final destination is a short walk to the apartment of Jean Cass a close friend of the family where we enjoy games, ice cream, and fireworks from the vantage point of her 9th floor lake view activity room. We have enjoyed many blessings this year none more important than time spent with family and friends. We look forward to seeing you all soon and wish everyone a healthy and prosperous new year.
Both Maya and Susan were selected from a crowd of several hundred to participate on stage with improve group Kamikaze Comedy during our final entertainment choice of the evening. This actor is on a fishing expedition with his buddy and Susan is required to move his body as his dialog responds to each new body position.
Next we enjoyed the physical comedy of Brent McCoy whose juggling skills were nothing compared to his humor. During his performance he sustained several injuries for which he singled out Jeanine to kiss the boo boo to make it better. Jeanine drew the line when he fell on his keester and came looking for medical treatment.
Our next activity was mask making where Jeanine, Maya, and Lydia fashioned their own works of art.
If we had ended the evening after this single event it would have been well worth the travel to Burlington, but this was just the beginning.
Each act seemed more amazing or comical than the last and was equally entertaining for both children and adults.
The Burlington First Night Celebration features dozens of events held at venues throughout the downtown area starting at noon and finishing at midnight. We begin with Circus Smirkus a troop of young aerialists, acrobats, and contortionists who bring high adventure and low comedy to the big ring. Judging by Maya’s expression (in the upper right hand corner) this was probably her favorite performance.
As we prepared to head into Burlington to enjoy First Night, Kyle instigated a snowball fight. Hannah is a very intelligent and charming young woman but beneath her sophisticated exterior beats the heart of a tiger. When all combat had ceased, I would say that Kyle was covered with more snow and may think twice before provoking another skirmish.
The morning started with portraits by window light. Hannah and Lydia are both natural beauties and Kyle is not too shabby either.
Hannah was introduced to and quickly picked up the game of Euchre, a Roche family favorite. Meanwhile, desserts were being prepared in the kitchen.
This afternoon the family drove to Burlington, Vermont where we joined Jeanine’s sister Susan for the New Year holiday. We made the four hour drive in two cars so that we could more comfortably accommodate Kyle’s friend Hannah and Maya’s friend Lydia who joined us on the short family vacation. Susan recently purchased a new condominium and this was our first visit. The place is huge with a fantastic open floor plan. We enjoyed a fine lasagna dinner before settling down to some serious card playing.
Maya and Sarinagh created nine clothing ensembles and laid them out on the bedroom floor. Using a ladder and wide angle lens I was only able to capture five of them.
Since meeting Jeanine over 25 years ago I have enjoyed a Roche family tradition, popovers for Christmas morning breakfast. This year’s batch will go down in history as the best ever reaching new heights due to a small adjustment Jeanine made to the recipe. Rarely do I get to capture peak moments of happiness but I must say this comes pretty close. The popovers were so big that we could only eat one for breakfast. Leave it to Kyle to invent the grilled ham and cheese popover which we enjoyed for lunch.
I think it would be safe to conclude that Maya is excited about Christmas this year. Either that or she takes pleasure from defying her parents over the use of the sofa as a trampoline. I used a flash and long shutter speed (to retain the mood of the ambient light) which gives Maya something of a translucent appearance.
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse….
It is rumored that the finished Zeppole tastes best if the honey is allowed to soak in overnight. We may never know if this is true.
The next element of our holiday tradition is the preparation of the Zeppole (fried dough balls covered in honey and sprinkles). Years of practice have made for a very efficient production line approach, only slightly less efficient than the speed with which the finished product is consumed.
Songs celebrating Christmas and a candle lighting ceremony define the evening service at First Parish our Unitarian Universalist church. Always a point of great controversy among the children afterwards is whether their father has a three or four note vocal range. Not in question is how much we enjoyed sharing the evening with Aunt Susan.
Our family begins every Christmas Eve with dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Chang An being our local favorite. Something of a present for Jeanine who will spend much time cooking over the next several days this tradition dates back many years and I can no longer recall how we came to decide on Chinese cuisine. Maya ordered the entire meal and was honored to do so.
Jeanine’s sister Susan is joining our family for Christmas and was on hand to see her nephews compete as was Maya who put a headlock on me when I tried to kiss her. Immediately after the wrestling, I took off for an indoor soccer game. Witnessing both of my boys wrestling must have stirred some deep passions in me because I produced a career high five goals in one game helping my team to a big victory.
Nicolai had an outstanding match defeating his opponent with a pin in the second period but not before executing two beautiful leg tackles, a Granby roll escape, and an absolutely perfect switch. He used several different pinning combination to win back points and finished the match with a very sweet cradle.
This evening I got to see Kyle wrestle for the first time ever. It is only the second match of his life and what he knows of the sport he has learned in two weeks. Despite his novice status, he possess great natural abilities and the intensity of a wild bull. He was soundly beating his opponent by a score of 4-1 well into the second period when he made a beginner’s mistake that cost him the match. If he elects to stay with the sport I believe he will quickly overtake many wrestlers with years of experience. Nicolai has been very encouraging and generous with his time, helping Kyle to come up the very steep learning curve.
No sooner than I arrived in California, I was on my way back to Boston. Just enough time for an important three-hour meeting in Thousand Oaks. Flying at this time of year is a real hassle, but the beautiful scenery makes up for it.
This evening I got to enjoy the sunset twice, both times through the same window of an airplane taking me to California for a brief but critical meeting tomorrow. The sun first set while I was on the ground preparing for take off. During our ascent the sun reappeared and looked as if it was rising as we climbed to higher and higher altitudes. One we reached our maximum height the sun started to set again although very, very slowly since we were chasing it into the west. Unfortunately, the window was not very clean and limited the photographic opportunities.
Cookie making is on the agenda for today. Maya and friend Allison prepare Christmas cookies. Note the efficiency of Maya’s layout. I assist by preparing to eat the resulting cookies, a very important and often overlooked job.
This evening we hosted 4 of Nicolai’s and 1 of Maya’s friends for dinner and an informal holiday gathering. Jeanine joins the kids for an extended match of Catch Phrase, a great multi-generational game that had everyone in hysterics by the time it was finished. Because we waited so long to get our Christmas tree this year (due to my travel in Asia) we had only very tiny ones to pick from. None the less, it is a happy tree and Maya in particular found it easier to decorate. A nice fire and holiday music from the Sonos completed the ambiance. Neither of the boys wrestled today, Kyle because of an injury and Nicolai because he was exhausted from two soccer games he played late last night. I photographed the match anyway and constructed a website for the team (CCHS Wrestling Team).
Kyle injured his elbow in wrestling practice today and will miss his match tomorrow. Hannah came over after dinner to offer a measure of comfort, and we enjoyed having her with the family as we trimmed the Christmas tree and enjoyed the season’s first fire.
This evening, the Sonos Cambridge office celebrated the holidays with a gathering at the Blue Room. Featured activities included a music trivia contest, numerous raffles, and a version of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey that we call dock-the-controller-in-the-cradle.
It was a good night for the Calabria men in the sporting arena. Concord Carlisle faced Arlington High School. Nicolai wrestled up one weight class (heavier opponent) and came back from a 0-2 deficit to win with a pin at the end of the first period. The sequence shows a front headlock to the flying cradle which ended the match. Kyle for reasons not yet clear to me decided three days ago to take up wrestling. With essentially no training or conditioning he walked onto the mat and battled mightily before pinning his opponent in the third period. Hell of a way to start a wrestling career. I had two indoor soccer games the first of which I missed due to the wrestling meet. In the second game I scored three rather nice goals. 2 pins, a hat trick, and three men that will sleep well tonight.
Nicolai has been selected to field test a new forearm crutch design pictured here on the right. I am not at liberty to disclose any of the features, but I can say that Nico likes them quite a lot. On the left is the aluminum crutch that I built for him, and in the middle his current titanium crutch.
Maya spent 2 hours with her friends selling Girl Scout Cookies in front of the local grocery store this afternoon. Business was brisk, no doubt due to the excellent sales skills the girls have developed.