The Intorcio’s Christmas 2002 Postcard!!!!
We wish you all the happiest of holidays!!
And here’s what we’ve done this fall…
The weekend after Labor Day we had a busy one! Grampa came to visit and we put him to work painting the shed! On Saturday night, we all got to have dinner with our friends Dianne and Dave Bird. They were great hosts for our entire family and we sure wish we got to see them more often!
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On Sunday night, we had a party at our place where we didn’t celebrate Melanie’s birthday! It was a fun time anyway! We always have a fun time with Mel and the Stefanssons and the Iozzos!
Later in September, we celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary!! While Ms. Eric stayed with the boys, Shawn and John spent a great weekend in Kennebunkport.We stayed at the OceanView Inn where we enjoyed our patio on the sea, we walked through the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge, bike to Cape Porpoise, had great food at Grissini,enjoyed the piano bar at the Kennebunkport Inn, browsed Ogunquit’s Perkins Cove on the way home (where we ran into longtime friends Fran & Fred!) and generally relaxed! What a weekend!
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We stretched the next weekend by taking the Friday off as we traveled to Council Bluffs, Iowa to participate in the celebration of John’s Aunt Ruth’s 50th Wedding Anniversary! We got to visit with many of our McCoy-side cousins and had a grand time with Aunt Ruth and Uncle Bob! Cousins Kim and Robbie planned the party and took care of all of our arrangements and they did an awesome job! We even got to visit Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo where we loved the tigers, the desert dome, and the cool walk-under aquarium!
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Shawn and her mom spent the first weekend of October on the Cape. The had a fun time dining out, shopping, and seeing the sites - a little mother/daughter bonding time, if you will. John and the boys stayed home and did “guy stuff” - they ate pizza, went to Jacob’s soccer game, visited Wolf Hollow with the cub scouts - stuff like that.
The next weekend we were off to Syracuse for the wedding of Shawn’s cousin Lori. The boys wore their first neckties, Grams danced (almost) until dawn, and we all had a great time seeing the family!
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John trained hard through the summer and fall to run an October 20 marathon fast enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon. His plans changed when he played in the church’s annual youth/adult softball game on October 6 and, crossing home plate, was hit on the chin by the throw from center field. Ice and ibuprofen seemed to be taking care of things until, after a ten mile run a week later, his gum swelled up enough to convince him to go to the dentist where he was diagnosed with a broken jaw!! The next morning his mouth was strapped shut in the oral surgeon’s office and his running (and eating) careers were placed on hold!!
Shawn ran the Witch City 5k on October 27. Though she was passed by Elvis and troubled by a sore knee, she was reasonably pleased with her resulton the cold windy day.
Halloween was a hoot!! Friends Erik, Owen, and Olivia joined Joshua, the Pirate, and Jacob, Pikachu, to pillage the neighborhood. They had a great time collecting way too much candy!!
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Onthe first weekend in November, we were honored to attend the wedding ofone of Shawn’s coworkers, Junya, and his lovely bride, Chisato. The wedding was at the Boston College chapel and the reception at Boston’s Parker House. It was a very classy event and we had fun with Shawn’s work friends!!
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Enjoying Indian Summer on Veteran’s day weekend, John and the boys summited PlymouthMountain on November 9. They didn’t anticipate the four to six inches of snow on the trail but, despite feet turned orange from wet hiking boots, they made it to the top!
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Shawn and the boys had the Monday off and, despite marginal weather, made thebest of it! A veteran’s day ceremony on the town common with army trucks to crawl over, a playday with a friend for Jacob, and a flag ceremony at the local nursing home for Joshua all added up to a fun busy day! And that night… Dad got to open his mouth and eat soft foods! (In case you’re wondering, the difference between “liquid diet” and “soft foods” is HUGE!!!)
On November 19, we woke at 5 AM with temps in the 20s. We added socks and slippers, jackets, hats, and gloves to our PJ’s, dragged out a tarp, topped it with a couple of army blankets, and then all four of us got into two zipped-together sleeping bags on top of that to watch the Leonid Meteor Shower! It was a good show and we counted a lot of meteors! The dawg, of course, just looked at us like we were stupid, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
November22, Joshua tested for and earned his Junior Orange Belt in karate!! Heenjoys his lessons and is really building some skills!
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On Thanksgiving Day, we made a family affair of the FeasterFive road races in Andover. Despite a temperature of 13° as w eleft home we had a blast! The boys each ran in the “Kid’s K” races. Jacob left the starting line of the 5 & 6 year-old group ina full sprint that put him in first place. And, with eyes bugging out and gasping for air, he held onto that lead all the way to the finish to win his race! Joshua got tangled at the start of his 7 & 8 year-old heat and wound up on the ground and found himself dead last. Not willing to finish that way, he was back up and running in no time and passed about 3/4 of the field to finish in a quite respectable position! Brave runs both! Shawn ran the 5k with a sore back but was happy with her 33:07 time and John made his post-broken jaw racing debut in the 5 mile event with a slow start but a pleasing top 10% finish in 34:33! We all had a great time and we thank our friend Cristina for hanging with the boys while mom and dad ran!
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From there it was back to our place to watch the parades, get the food cooking and await our guests. Grams was with us and our friend Melissa with her kids Noah and Dylan joined us as they have in the past. John’s UMass friend John D. joined us to round out the table and we had plenty of good food and good cheer to accompany our thanks!
We completed the Thanksgiving weekend with sledding on the town hill, the advent workshop at the church where we put up decorations and crafted ornaments, and other local fun!
The following weekend was packed with Holiday preparations. It was Frosty’s Fair at our church and our family ran the “guessing jars” table at Jacob’s suggestion. We didn’t make a whole lot of money but we did have a whole lot of fun! Joshua began the winter basketball season and John ran in the Mill Cities Relays with four friends from his running club. He ran the last of the five legs and his coed masters team finished the 29 mile race in 3:39!!
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Thenext weekend found us ready for our annual Holiday Bash for the benefit of Globe Santa! We had a great crowd, as always, and had lots of fun catching up with friends from PictureTel, our neighborhood, our church, etc. - even a long lost Alabama cousin! When the wassail was drained, we netted $1,150 for the kids this year! Our thanks to all of our guests who made this gift possible!
Finally, it was off to the Stefanssons for their holiday bash and the annual singing of “On Top of Spaghetti” - without which, it’s just not Christmas.
We’repretty much ready now and settling in for the holidays - and perhaps along winter’s nap to follow! We hope you are all in good cheer and great health and that your holidays are happy ones! And best wishes for a grand New Year!
