A String of Pearls....

Well I'm back and I've had so many memories running through my head since I began trying to figure out which was the most memorable Christmas ever and so far I haven't been able to pinpoint one but I do have special memories from so many over the years. I, like my loving friend and sister of the heart, Tina, have a large Italian/Irish family, I should say "I had" because sadly most all of them have passed on now so the memories are even more important than ever and more precious to me. My dad's side was the Italian, of course, being Italian it was his opinion that since my mom had married him that she was from that day forward Italian by proxy! I wonder if he had it put into their wedding vows!!! My mom's side needless to say was Irish, the wee bit of Russian I have comes from my dad's moms side of the family and that's most of what I know about it because we're not suppose to talk about it???
One of the very first Christmas's I remember was at my Noni's, our family was always dirt poor but it never stopped us from having a good time or celebrating a holiday. My Noni always did the holidays up right, this is the Irish one although we called her by the Italian word meaning grandma. She was one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, they said she was what is called, black Irish, she had beautiful perfect jet black hair, ivory white clear skin, a body to die for right up until the day she died and she had the most loving eyes, dark and they always seemed to be laughing! My Noni and I had a special relationship and I treasured every moment I shared with her, she's one of those characters everyone wants to know but that's another blog.....
Anyway, back to this Christmas, I don't remember exactly what year it was but I must have been around 5 or 6, I was very young at the time and as I said our family was very poor. The big thing then for women was to own a "String of Pearls" which was also the name of one of my dad's favorite dance tunes by Glenn Miller, he taught me to dance to it and it was like floating, boy I loved it, that was dancing, I wonder why it's never made a big come back? Well, the whole family had gathered at Noni's and we were all eating, drinking and being merry. Those were the best gathering, sometimes they'd last for days and we would sing and dance, fight and argue too but mostly just had fun.
In the middle of the festivities my godfather came in and everyone gathered around him because he was just someone you loved to love. He was a big man in every sense of the word and one of the kindest you'd ever know. He was a farmer and had bought some land out in the country and planted cherry trees and he was starting to reap some of the fruits of his labors and I remember he presented my Noni with a small gift box insisting she open it right then and there. I'll never forget the look on her face, I knew what it was just by the look on her face, you see no one in my family would ever expect to own a "real" string of pearls and let me tell you did she ever wear them well, they looked as though they were created to go around her neck. I'm not sure whether they complimented her or she complimented them more, they were a perfect match!
Those pearls have made an appearance at special occasions and every Christmas since, in my Noni's later years she had them restrung and gave them to my favorite aunt Irene, my mom's identical twin sister with strict instructions that they were to be handed down to me. Unfortunately my aunt didn't survive my Noni and it was my Noni who took them from my aunts neck and place them around mine. I remember when I took them off the first time I noticed I couple of my aunts curly red hairs were tangled in the clasp and I didn't remove them for the longest time. I still wear the pearls and always at Christmas in honor of all my loved ones those pearls have been touched by including my god father. They are also with me at other special occasions, I wore them at my wedding this year and I wear them anytime I have a need to feel close to my Noni. I hope that one day, Tasha my step daughter will wear them and I hope when she puts them around her neck she feels all the love that's held within that beautiful "String of Pearls"

If you look closely in the picture of Tasha & I above you'll see I'm wearing the pearls, this picture was taken on my wedding day in Virginia City, NV on August 8th, 2008