Cindy and Greg

It has been a while since the last update. As with many other people we have been caught up in the holidays, our jobs, our house, and the other mundane tasks of everyday day life.

Christmas has come and gone, without much of the excitement that normally surrounds the holiday. As with Thanksgiving, there was just something missing. After a 9.5 hour trip up I-95 on Thursday, December 23, we spent 2 days with my mom in Brewster. The house went undecorated for the holiday, something I would have never expected growing up, but can certainly understand this year. We went to services at St. Lawrence Christmas eve…walking into the church was more difficult then I thought it would be. Each time I looked to the alter, I would see the casket from dad’s service and there were points in the service where I would have sworn I heard dad’s voice saying the prayers like he would do when we were younger. After the service we went to dinner at Rraci’s, a small family Italian restaurant. This restaurant has become a favorite place to go when we are in Brewster for as little as a day. We shared laughs and tears over dinner. Hayden, the owner, and his sister (whom I can never remember her name) were absolutely wonderful and did everything to ensure we had a good time. When dinner was finished we headed back to the house to exchange gifts. Cindy was spoiled by mom, the daughter that she never had…I was spoiled by mom…being the 31 year old baby of the family.

Christmas morning, after a nice breakfast, we made the trip down to Cindy’s family in Tom’s River, New Jersey. We spent the day surrounded by family and drinking Goldshlogger shots and opening presents. And the next morning, after a nice breakfast with Cindy’s mom, we made the trip down to Dumfries.

So while the holiday has been difficult, the days will get brighter and we are comforted by the warmth of the memories we carry with us.

Is it me, or does it seem like this week is just dragging on and on and on? The week started off with a bang. Cindy and I decided for Christmas, we would buy each other a master bedroom. So we went to Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn. When we walked into Pottery Barn, we both walked to the same set of furniture and said “this one.” So we made the sales mans day and asked him to write it up. We wound up getting the Valencia furniture collection. And much to my disappointment, our current TV would not fit on the extra-wide dresser, so we *had* to pick up an LCD flat screen that happen to be HDTV. The TV should be delivered today and the furniture is coming on Sunday, so finally after living in the house for a year, we will have more then one room furnished. Now Cindy just has to decide if we are painting on Saturday or if she likes the Mercer Blue we have on the walls already.

We did receive a little over 1300 pictures from our wedding photographer this week to go through. Once we flush them out a little more we will make them available in the photo gallery.

Anyway, happy Friday! And remember we have 8 shopping days till Christmas…

It is hard to believe that it has been more then a month since the wedding. It seems like yesterday we were standing on the terrace and exchanging our vows. So much has happened in these past 45 days. We have shared extreme joy and extreme sorrow. Neither of which would have been the same without the love and support of our friends and family, for that we thank you.

A month ago this evening, dad passed away. At the end of a long day, I find myself wanting to pick up the phone and call him to share a funny story or the frustrations of working at the poop plant (aka DCWASA). There are some days that are difficult and others that are comforted with the memories of the laughter and joy of times we shared together.

Well I just got back to the office after dropping Cindy off at her office, running down to the house to drop some things off, and returning the rental car. We left Brewster around 5:30a this morning and arrived at Cindy’s office about 10:15am.

Mom prepared an amazing meal, with my favorite cheese stuffing. Family from the Island (for those outside of NY that is Long Island) and Massachusetts made the trip to share in the holiday. There was great food, good conversation, and even a couple of laughs. Mom did well, though it was clear there was something missing in the day.

Ann brought her pictures from the wedding, so we added those to the gallery. Her husband Marty was the photographer on the best picture I have seen of Dad, Stephen, and me

Mom gave Cindy and I the Christmas tree that was in the house in Brewster last Christmas. We will be putting it up and decorating it this weekend. We will post pictures as soon as it is up and lit.

After an 8 hour drive up I-95 in a Lincoln Navigator (also known as a BUS), we arrived in Brewster. We picked up a pizza (what Wednesday before Thanksgiving would be complete without pizza) and headed for the house. To ensure we weren’t met by some of Putnam’s finest, we called mom when we pulled into the driveway. Needless to say, she was a little surprised.

I am headed down to LaGuardia tomorrow morning to pick Stephen up, he is taking the 9a shuttle from DC. When we get back to Brewster, we will celebrate dad’s favorite holiday. He always said that he was thankful for the time he was given the others gifts in his life. So tomorrow, we will raise a glass, and be thankful for the ways in which he touched and enriched our lives.

Cindy and I have posted lots (over 200) of pictures of the Wedding and the Mini-moon, just click on the Photo Gallery. Special thanks to Karen and Michael Naughton for sending along all of their pictures from the big event. We would love to compile as many of the picture sets as we can in our gallery so if you wouldn’t mind, we would love a copy of any of your pictures on CD. We will then upload them and include them online.

Also, news from our photographer Kelly, she will have our pictures available, hopefully this week. You will be able to see all the pictures she took online and if there are any special pictures that you would like you are able to purchase them through the web site. We thought this was kind of neat since so many times most people don’t see any of the pictures that might have special meaning to them. So stay tuned and we will post the web address as soon as they are available…

Okay, okay…I know that I posted just a little over a month ago, claiming to have found the perfect device in the Blackberry 7100t. I was wrong. I know you may find that hard to believe…I am sure Cindy is shocked about it. PalmOne launched the new Treo 650. The new Treo is much like its predecessor, in the way it looks, but under the hood, it is very different. It includes Bluetooth, which will allow you to (among other things) use a wireless headset and to sync your calendar and contacts to your computer without wires. The screen on the device is a beautiful 320×320 pixels. They keyboard is less stiff and more fitting to your fingers when you need to type an e-mail. The Treo 650 is currently only available for SprintPCS but it should be available on other carriers by the start of the new year.