MEMORIES FOR A NEW YEAR

The holiday season is over. I am exhausted, relieved, and also sad. The amount of work that goes into each season is immense, but so pleasurable. Just like a little kid—I miss all the fun once it’s over!
Memories of family, friends, and fun will sustain me, however, until next December, some moments more than others, but all were worth my experiencing.
A quiet moment…eating hot, roasted chestnuts outside the Kennebunkport Inn with my Dad, while my Mom and Little P. pushed close for the Dock Square tree lighting at Christmas Prelude.
My husband and I laughing until the tears come…eating, drinking and making merry with friends at The Rustic Kitchen one cold night. We were part of the audience for “In the Kitchen”, their live cooking show, and watching all our smiles on the television monitors only made them even bigger.
Feeling content…watching my 4-year-old stand hip to hip with his 94-year-old Italian great-grandmother as they baked together in her tiny kitchen. I can still smell Nonna’s lemon cake baking in the oven.
Christmas Eve…one of the most treasured memories I have every year. We spend the evening with fifty plus of the Bonadio clan, and everyone gets involved in the festive night. Big P. spends a couple hours outside shucking oysters, clams, and littlenecks for a raw bar feast, his closest cuginos keeping him company and sharing a grappa to ward off the cold. The nonnas, and zias have all brought along their signature dishes; each is homemade, of course, and rivals the other. The younger set is trusted with desserts. I bring chocolate dipped, stuffed figs and an oatmeal-chocolate chip cake. The figs are reincarnated from my father-in-law’s childhood in Calabria, and the cake is an old recipe from a dear friend’s mother.
Auntie C. is the amazing orchestrator, cook, and hostess who has been pulling this evening together for much longer than I have been around. I have no idea how she does it, but I thank God every year that she does! Kids run rampant, grabbing bites of morsels in between dancing and games, only pausing for a breath when Santa makes his appearance with gifts for each. Grown-ups take a more leisurely meal and sip a glass of Uncle T.’s homemade wine, discussing the merits of this year’s vintage vs. last year’s. More glasses are drunk than decisions made.
And fragments of Christmas Eve’s past spin through my mind: piano playing, tree trimming, Christmas caroling, accordion pumping, fireplace blazing, long-distance phone calls to missing relations, passing around beautiful babies, kissing everyone a million times (the Italian way-on both cheeks, natch), and laughing and loving like nobody’s business.
You can’t make this stuff up, it has to be experienced! And once experienced, these memories are embedded within my soul, and provide me with a lasting sense of happiness.
I wanted to share these memories—from my crazy, beautiful, wonderful family to yours. I hope your own New Year is filled with love, laughter and loads of happy memories! Buon anno!