AUNT PALMA'S 60th BIRTHDAY PARTY

QUOTE IF THE DAY: "Man is a dog's idea of what GOD should be." -- Holbrook Jackson

Hi dear friends,

I know all of you came by to see pictures of me and my friends from yesterday but I'm letting the Mommy take control of my bloggie tonight to tell you about my Aunt's Pam (Palma in Italian) 60th Birthday party. The Ricca/Bono tradition is that when anybody has their 60th birthday, they have a big celebration. So here's the Mommy.........

The Mommy......

As Mona said we have a tradition that whenever any of us 6 girls (cousins & sisters) turn 60 we have a big celebration to mark the occasion. My cousin, Loretta, was first 3 years ago, then 2 years ago it would have been my beloved sister, Frances's turn, but she went to human bridge in 1996 (but us 5 girls that were left went out to share our memories of her), last year it was my turn, this year it my dearest sister and closest friend Pam's, next year it will be my cousin, Shirley's turn and then 2 years after that it will my little sister, Rosemary's turn. It was a baby every 13 months around the Ricca & Bono houses. If course we all came from the Traditional Catholic Family.

Since Pam planned by 60th last year, it was my turn to plan her party. My brother in law, Sonny, & wanted the have it somewhere that it would be quite and everybody could hear each other talk and if you know anything about Italians we talk a lot and all at the same time!!! So since we are Italian why not choose out favorite Italian restaurant in town, The Lasagna House III, in Houston at 1960 and 45 N. If you live in Houston or ever come to Houston, and want to have the best lasagna in town this is the place to go to.

Here are a few pictures of the place. It has lots of beautiful scenes painted on the walls and some really nice paintings of Italy. Pam and Sonny visited Italy a few years ago & the paintings made her wish she was back there. Our Daddy came from Sicily when he was 14 years old and when they went to Italy, they went to where Daddy was born. Some day she and I plan on going together, if I can ever afford it.

Since Italians are all about wine, instead of flowers we have vino & grapes for you to look at.

Pam is the person in our family who keeps all of the family traditions alive so I wanted her to have a party to remember. I invited 32 of our closest family members and friends (that's all the room would hold) and we had 29 people.that came. She was excited, even though it wasn't a surprise.


PAM

PAM & her husband SONNY (VINCENT)

PAM & her son JASON my Godchild.

Lane, Pam's oldest grandchild (he took this picture of himself)

Lane, a true Italian, sucking up his pasta.

Blake, Pam's other grandchild.

Blake and his Mommy Anne--he is very shy.

ANNE & JASON -- they are both 35 years old.

MYSELF & LANE

A room full of Italians and then some. All cousins, husbands & wives and very good friends.

The food was to die for....I had the Chicken Marsala. Since Sonny paying for everything, we decided to pick from one of 3 menu plans and we picked the one that had 7 different entree choices. You get to pick 3 items but Matt, the young man that handles the banquet room, tossed a 4th in, spaghetti and meatballs. Prepare yourselves for a treat and if you close your eyes you might even smell the aromas.

The dinner selections

SHRIMP ALFREDO

THE ITALIAN COMBINATION--lasagna, linguini and cheese raviolis

CHICKEN MARSALA

Last but not least.........DESSERT!!!

TIRAMISU

CHEESE CAKE AND CHOCOLATE MOUSSSE CAKE

OH MY GOD.....dessert was the hardest of all to choose--look at all we had to choose from.

Then it was time for presents.

One of my gifts to my best friend and sister.

It is called "Sisters one and the Same"

I also bought her a Cookie bouqute that said "AH TO BE YOUNG AGAIN.

And lastly, the intertainment provided by Lane Austin DeGeorge, soon to be 5 years old in April.

The little imp did sumersaults and tumbling for too.

Mona.......

Ok, I'm back!! Just to let everybody know, my Uncle Sonny came through and sent me 2 meatballs but the Mommy only let me have one tonight. We'll be back tomorrow and it will be my turn to share some pictures of my visit on Valentine's Day to the boys so until the.........

Love, kisses and {{{huggies}}}.......Mona