well…..its been 2 weeks since i had the, time or the health or the energy to write something here. not sure if I broke any Federal Blogging rules. WordPress hasnt locked me out of my account yet, so Im assuming, you’ll all get to read this.

The problem with me not writing for so long is I had a dozen things I wanted to write about and i obviously cant cram them ALL in to one post ….because i Know we (and i include myself) dont have that kind of attention span…..

 my feeling is im going to go a little soft and talk about christmas tonight. my sons , Bryan and Justin flew down to georgia to hang with us….Bryan brought his girlfriend and flew in late on xmas eve….they were only able to stay for 4 days due to them both having to get back to work Monday(that sucked….for several reasons, not the least of which is I got some kind of virus on Friday and was basically glued to the bed until Bryan had already left) The 2 days I got to spend with him were intense and incredible and obviously way too short. Justin spent about 8 or 9 days here before he had to get back to school. About 17 0r 18 years ago , the boys and I started a tradition….we would eat dinner together as a family, the 3 boys and Gloria(who you’ll remember from past embarrasing postings) and after dinner , we left Gloria contentedly (word?) at home whilst the three of us went out driving around many neighborhoods looking for the BEST and WORST decorated houses. We Played xmas music, made alot of jokes, were occasionally very rowdy and silly as we jumped out of the car to take pictures of ourselves in front of really badly decorated houses(ie; one bush out of many in front of the house had half a strand of blue lights haphazardly laying across it)………we found these homes as entertaining and amusing as the ones who had spent obviously ridiculous amounts of money lighting up the whole block with all the lights and moving decorations, and music blasting yule time tunes………One year (it was an OLYMPICS ) year…..we made signs before we left with various olympic type scores on them(3.7,5.0, etc etc) and we would hop out of teh car and rate the houses with these signs….taking pictures as we did it….often times, the people who lived in the houses would be coming to their windows or doors and some even coming outside and that just scared the shit out of my boys and they would jump in the car and we would race off , often with my boys yelling silly things like ….you could do so much better at the houses.   We occasionally got carried away….we had greatly successful years and sometimes we would just drive forever and just not find that one glorious house…..but it was fun nonetheless…….even if i was just driving…..from an ealy age thru present day….Justin and Bryan have a way of making each other laugh…..that ive never seen anyone else achieve. Im very lucky. Every trip would end at 7-11. the first couple of years it was just to buy hot chocolate and bring one home for mom, of course…..as they got older, it was a major grocery stop….subs, chips,cakes and yet still the Hot chocolate……..

maybe 3 or 4 years ago, while still in Ny, the boys were heading home from college for the Holidays and as Xmas eve approached, I said to them (now 19 and 23 years old) “Yknow guys….these last 13 years or so have been so much fun, but you guys have lives, friends, girlfriends….i get it….i was your age just the other day….so we dont have to do this xmas eve thing anymore……Im ok with that”  well, they were mortified, They told me to stop being crazy….This is what we Did….this was OUR time…on xmas eve!!  and so, feeling surprised and relief….out we went.

We continued that until in November of 2012, when Gloria and I moved to georgia. the boys came down in december, but for a number of reasons(i didnt really know my way driving around very well, they didnt have alot of time to stay, they had their girlfriends with them) we decided for that one year only we would take a one year hiatus from our xmas eve tradition.

In 2013 , They were back and we ate dinner on xmas eve and I looked at them and they looked at me and I said” Are We DOING this or What?!”  And off we went…..and altho we didnt see the crazy decorated houses we saw on Long Island …we had fun find ing the few decent ones, the few terrible ones, getting lost, laughing as usual, being rowdy, like old times……no 7-11’s down here so we stopped at a QT which most people below Virginia know as the big Gas Station with a huge 7-11 type store inside.

This year Bryan and his girlfriend didnt fly in till 10pm on xmas eve, by the time we all got home and ate dinner it was almost 1am and everyone was tired…..I sort of sadly said……well, as far as traditions guys….we knew this day would come…..I told them I hope to live long enough to see them carry this on with their own children, they reluctantly agreed it was late….Bryan said…but lets do it another night before I leave….but that didnt happen…probably because I got sick….But the writing is on the wall….that was 2 out of 3 years we didnt do it after 16 or 17 straight years…..It was a good run, It was time with my sons Ill never forget, We have pictures….We have the memories….Its all good. Im choking up quite a bit here….but Really…Its All Good.