Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate

Fiorella is going to have a full house for Easter when Minnesota son and his wife visit.  She's been buying up Peeps and chocolate bunnies over the the past week  for the occasion. She's also stocked up on bags of chocolate kisses for the guys at Click Computer Repair and the Mazda service department. And she's cashed a check ot give out some holiday tips. And she's planning to don her rabbit ears and deliver treats to her neighbors who have helped build her murita de rocas. 

Never say Fio doesn't know how to celebrate a holiday.

HAPPY BD, SON!

Today is Minnesota Son's birthday, and, for the first time in years, Husband and Fio will be able to celebrate it with him.  Yes, Son and his lovely wife are in Texas right now.

The nuclear family got together last Sunday for a pre-birthday celebration at Longhorn Steakhouse in Georgetown.  Then yesterday, Son and his wife, Fio and Husband met with part of the extended family at Frisco in Austin.  And today Fio and Husband will again have most of the nuclear family together, this time for cake and ice cream.

Yeah, birthdays are a big deal in Fiorella's world.

The More, the Merrier

Ah, the serenity of the day before Christmas when, for the first time ever, Fio and Husband had almost everything prepared and worked out.  All the remained for Fiorella to do was cook the chocolate pudding in the microwave, wrap some selected pieces of family jewelry for daughter, and neaten up her desk in the den. The next day, of course, she and Husband would set the timetable for cooking Christmas dinner for themselves, Son and wife, and brother and wife, then proceed at their leisure.  Easy--no sweat.

Until Fio learned last night that Nephew, his Chinese girlfriend, and her family would be dropping in on Christmas morning.  Actually, Fio and Husband felt honored, but also a bit frantic.  On the way home from the Christmas Eve service, Husband stopped at Walgreen's for Fio to rush in and buy whatever Christmas stuff was left on the shelves to put in little gift bags for the family--can't have people drop by and not have gifts for them.  And Fio and Husband are gonna have to get up extra early tomorrow to get as much done on the dinner as possible in order to spend some time with our their-morning visitors.

In other words, it's Christmas as usual around Fio's holiday house--crrrrrazy!