It's 5:30 a.m.; a rare quiet time at the Boisvert house except for the occasional clank and hiss of the old pipe factory that works to keep us warm. In an hour or so, the front door will open and Melissa's daughter Alexus will come in and crawl on the couch until the other kids get up for the day. We're pleased that Melissa and Alexus returned from a year+ in FL last Oct. and have found a beautiful apartment in our neighborhood, so close that Lexi even shares Xavi's bus stop!
Xavi will wake up and lament that the snow fall last night wasn't enough to keep them home from school today. It will be a temporary malaise for him as he truly enjoys school and, again, has the gift of a marvelous teacher. His year was another full one of karate, baseball, piano and guitar, some fencing & C.C.D. and now school band. He's just opted to take a break from the piano and guitar for awhile as it's cutting into his "PSP" time. Actually, he has added practice for "The Academic Bowl" to his list of activities which is a group who will compete against other 5th graders in the city school system. He is also an eager employee at Envelop the moment (our card and book store) and is earning money for the next electronic game that will no-doubt relegate the still-shiny PSP to the back of the closet all too soon!
Sebastien, 2½, is a ball of sunshine with all the brightness and fire that comes along with that glorious bright star! He is absolutely adorable and makes us laugh every day with his funny comments, expressions and noises (he's got the heating pipes down, in fact.) We were lucky this summer to have hired one of his former KinderCare teachers to be our nanny. M.J. comes to the house 5 days a week and they have a busy & happy time together making craft projects and visiting local library programs. The best part of the day is coming home from work and having Sebastien run from any corner of the house with open arms and a huge hug to start off the evening!
The year was filled with "Gg" travel for me with the exception of May when Michele and I had a fun get together with a few high school friends in NYC and then a couple of weeks later Michele hosted a wildly successful art exhibition in Manhattan for Angelo. In early June, David and I hosted a special Gallagher family reunion for Cosimo's Christening (Mary & Angelo's newborn) up in Rye, NH. We also took two weeks and rented a really lovely flower-covered cottage in Nantucket in mid-August where Michele was able to join us for a week of food, fun and referee-ing the kids!*
During vacation, we resolved to look for new office space. Almost immediately we were able to find a really great loft space in downtown Amesbury—a cozy and historic mill town about 15 miles east of us. Within a month of finding it, we had moved both businesses, Gg (www.thegallaghergroup.net) and Envelop the moment (www.envelopthemoment.com), and then got the construction underway to subdivide the space. Somehow everything came together in the nick of time—with the help of a lot of sweat equity by David, me and several members of our team, and we were actually able to open the card and book store on Dec. 1 to kick off the Christmas season with the town's tree-lighting event. We are thrilled with the new space and the reception that we have received from the excellent business community and what would seem to be even appreciative residents!
The move has worked out so well that David has just started "office-ing" out of Gg's space, even though he will continue to dedicate most of his focus on his mortgage practice for First Horizon. Happily, we will celebrate 20 years of marriage this Christmas! We are looking forward to planning a good getaway trip in the Spring to celebrate.
Last month we made a quick trip to Manhattan for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and a delish dinner with Michele, Jenna and Brian and a new friend at the famous Gallagher's Steak House--where else would one go for turkey?
We are again looking forward to taking part in a "Gallagher Christmas" in Omaha and being close to my parents (who are doing very well, thankfully), family and long-time friends. My thoughts are also with two dear old friends--meaning WWII-survivors "old"—who passed away this year. Stan and Sam, it was a pleasure to call each of you a true friend.
On the bright side, the sports teams of New England are doing their best to spread joy around the world! We pray there is plenty of joy where you and yours are in 2008!