On Monday, December 18th, we drove from Arlington, Virginia to Tallmadge, Ohio to spend the holidays with Thom's family and our kids. We left fairly early as Porter's people got back early in the morning ( 1 am) from their cruise. We drove to Hagerstown (about 1 1/2 half hours) to walk at the Martin "Marty" Snook Memorial Park, because it was right off of highway 76 and very convenient. It had a mile long trail (so 2 miles out and back) which was perfect. We also didn't want to wait as we were heading into rainy weather.
It was a great little walk. At about 3/4 of a mile in, we came upon Marty's Mystical Woods. It was a clearing in the woods with carvings of characters, including Gnomes, a spider, bears, and more. The carvings make up some of the play structures design as a safe and friendly playground for kids. My thought was the play area was Marty's idea and he was a carver. But when I researched it, I found I was wrong. Marty was a four-term Washington County commissioner and another guy came up with the idea after the removal of a stand of ash trees (emerald ash bore infestation) left a desolate clearing along the trail. It is a really cool use of the space and a fun little treat along the trail.
After our walk, we continued tour drive to Tallmadge through rain and then eventually snow. In fact, Tallmadge ended up with several inches of snow, but it did not last as temperatures were warm for Christmas.
We arrived in Tallmadge, in time to pitch in for the Christmas Day celebration. This was the first Christmas Day since 2019, the majority Nancy's (Thom's mom) kids, grandkids, and greats would make to the Christmas Day dinner and it would have to be special. Nancy is a first generation Italian and if you not sure what that might look like at the holidays, watch "The Feast of Seven Fishes". This is a great holiday traditions of an Italian family. Nancy said that they did not necessarily do "seven fishes", but Christmas Eve was an important part of the celebration when see was growing up.
For me, I enjoyed the movie as it depicts a non-Italian, girl's first encountered after going on date with one of the grandson's. I could relate. The event that comes to mind, was a Thanksgiving dinner in 1986 (shortly after we had moved back from California to Columbus, Ohio). We met at Thom's aunts house in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Thom's parents both grew up in different areas of Pittsburgh although his dad was not of Italian descent. In my family, Thanksgiving was pretty traditional turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes, canned cranberry sauce, green bean or broccoli casserole, and pumpkin pie, The only real deviation was that my dad liked canned oysters in his stuffing. At Thom's aunt house, there was an antipasto tray with assortment of meats, cheese, and other stuff as soon as you entered the house. It was a smallish row house that had been the house that was Nancy's parents. Then dinner consisted of the the traditional Thanksgiving food and a big dish of manicotti. At their family events (even to this day) desserts out-numbered the other food and cheesecake and cookies are always present. The last memory of the day is cramming a lot of people around the table to eat n that it was lively and a little noisier than holiday celebrations with my family.
So I helped by baking some cookies for our Christmas celebration, doing a lot of the shopping, and whatever else I could do. As Christmas Day neared I helped with food prep, visited with family, and welcomed my own kids as they appeared. Nancy baked her specialties of biscotti, pizzelles and ice cream balls (with Thom's help).
Christmas Eve, we have a traditions of latkes. This started when Kim was in first grade and a fellow student brought latkes for a holiday celebration at school. Kim wanted us to make some on Christmas Eve. We often have Italian Wedding Soup on Christmas Eve, but opted for brie in puff pastry, salad, and latkes. We attended church service with Nancy and then Thom left to pick up Matt from the Cleveland Airport.
Nancy's neighborhood has long had a tradition of put a luminary out on the street with most neighbors participating. In the past, the luminary was paper bags, sand to anchor them and candles that need to be lit. This year, there was a nice upgrade with battery tea lights and luminary bags with cut outs. It was much easier and safer too.
On Christmas Day, 24 members of the family started staggering in around 4 pm as we finished final preparations for the meal. Fortunately, the ham, fried cauliflower, potato casserole, cheesecake, various cookies, fruit tray, vegetable tray were brought by other members of the family. Nancy was making roast beast and traditional spaghetti with bread crumbs. I was finishing up the roasted vegetables, vegan butternut squash wellington, salad, and brie wrapped in pastry appetizer. Matt did guacamole and gravy. There were 21 adults, 3 small girls, and 1 baby. Everything came together as family arrived. It was the first Christmas gathering of this size since before Covid.
The food was great and desserts were plentiful. Gifts and games completed the evening extravaganza, and another great Christmas was in the books.
Covid still loomed as an unwelcomed specter, as my niece and family had planned to join us in Tallmadge to celebrate with their two girls. My niece let us know before Christmas that she had Covid and they would not make the trip. Kim and James will be staying with us longer, as they had planned to spend next weekend with his parents back in Wisconsin. They had a Covid exposure and so their Christmas plans are postponed.
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