Merry Christmas

This is the Christmas letter I sent out for 2011. Most of you have already seen this, I just wanted in my blog to have it for reference later.
Merry Christmas!
If you’re like us, every year you unleash Bing Crosby and hang family-crafted ornaments so ugly recycling plants would refuse them. Then New Year’s boots your yuletide nostalgia, replacing it with diet resolutions and earning predictions. In the holiday tradition of old meets new, the Trionfo family would like to look back at things we’ve enjoyed for years, as well as a few “firsts.”
To start, Mike and I had been once to a foreign country, sure, but going to Thailand in July was so . . . so foreign. Every street sign looked like อเวนิวบีช. Sometimes, to mock you, the English, tongue-twisting translation was conveniently printed (example: Kanchanaphisek). I never pondered how many Asians were in the world until Mike, Sandi and I were separated from Mom, Dad and Eric in a mall the size of Central Park (only bigger because it was seven stories high, the top floors forming bridges over eight-lane roads crawling with taxi’s and lined with tropical plants). For three hours until we found them, we sifted through thousands of Thai’s, all younger, thinner, and more committed to 80’s styles than us. It was such an awesome trip!
While we were gone, the kids got to hang out with their Aunt Giovanna, who flew from Pennsylvania for a week (another “first”), and then were cared for by friends who also have four kids (Christine and John, you are such troopers!). They had so much fun and we started a journal of all their cool memories, including water parks, bike riding, bounce houses, Temple Square, Thanksgiving Point, and several rec-center swimming expeditions.
Not everything is new. Next April marks our fifth anniversary in Riverton. Great friends, a still-unfulfilled desire for pet chickens (Mike will see this through eventually), and now some family nearby makes us love it. Not only did my parents drive to Utah for Christmas, my sister, Karen, moved here from Indiana after her husband’s summer internship at UVU. Nate still lives in Provo, making the holidays as loud and busy as anyone could wish.
What’s more nostalgic than hanging out with than your kids? I asked Lina what to include in this letter and she wrote, “Aunt Karen coming/moving to from Indiana. On Thanksgiving: Ice skating, watching Cars 2.” Lina later dictated, “I had a scavenger hunt for my birthday. We buried gold in our pink treasure chest Grandma gave Cora like a year ago, well it was fake gold, and then we hid clues where they were and so there were two teams and my team got there second.”
Later, I asked Mia what she liked about Christmas. Mia: “A new doggie and a ah-pooter (computer) and that’s all of it for Christmas.” Me: “What will we do for Christmas?” Mia: “I just want a notebook and a ah-pooter and a doggie and hot chocolate. Mommy, can I have some of these?” (Points to candy on the counter.) Me: “No. What about you, Cora?” Cora: “I’m going to get ready, put up the Christmas tree, the stockings, those kinds of things over there, put them up. Well, and at swimming I can swim by myself (meaning she makes swimming motions face down in the water in the shallow end). At dancing, I was a blue costume with a blue pin. It was so fluffy. My hair was curled. I was so pretty for dance and so was Mia (and Lina).”
Carter, in the tradition of Mia before him, refuses to speak.
To ring in the New Year, why not include a baby? No, we didn’t have a baby. I know, it’s so hard to keep track. No, our family will be welcoming a fifth baby in July of next year. Does this count as old or new? (On the one hand, it’s a new kid. On the other, I’m always pregnant. You decide.)
We hope your olds and news are making you smile this year. Oh yeah. Mike switched jobs. To Domo. www.domo.com “We gon find you.”
We love you! Have a merry Christmas!
Mike, Nikki, Adelina, Cora, Mia, and Carter Trionfo