.

Here, gathered in our beloved South Dakota, are a few members of our Williamson / Mattson Clan. Charles and Luella are to be blamed (be kind, they didn't know what they were doing). We're generally a happy bunch and somewhat intelligent (notwithstanding our tenuous grasp on reality). I'm also proud to say that most of us still have our teeth.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

More Unreliable Memories From the 2003 Holiday Season. The DelGrosso Spaghetti-O-Rama and Mario Kart.

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Christmas of 2003 Highlights Continue, Complete with Never Before Seen Photos Captioned with Unreliable Memories from An American Dynasty's Resident Family Know it All.  
The Fact that it Happened is Good Enough. Details can be Interpreted :)


The adults spent the evening of Christmas Eve's Eve at the Red Ruby Steak House in Provo.


     Jilane said something which clearly upset big sister Kim.  I think I remember Jilane describing how lucky she was to have such a strong and handsome husband, and how much she relied on him for spiritual strength and direction.  As I write this more unreliable memories are trickling in. I somewhat remember Jilane entertaining the table with a poem she'd written her husband Kevin.  It went something like this:

Dog,
I want you in my arms,
In my dreams, in reality and fantasy.
You are my rock, now and forever.
Because You Da Man!

Jilane
   



 Moving on........


     Christmas Morning 2003 was the last time Kevin and Jilane Bodily spent quality time with their sons Brayden and Brock.  From that day onward, the boys were only seen at parent teacher conferences, Sunday meals, and the occasional basketball or golf outing.
     Kevin and Jilane made the same mistake many American families make at Christmas. They bought their sons a game system.  The picture above shows Brayden gently stroking the Gamecube box with his index finger while mumbling, "my Precious."  It was the start of a long friendship between boy and machine only recently interrupted by his marriage to Jessica and the birth of their son Daxton.
  

     You can see the look of concern on Jilane's face that fateful Christmas morning. I captured the exact moment she realized her mistake in buying the Gamecube. Her once loving, thoughtful, respectful sons had become members of the lost generation.


     Local neighbor Dwayne Pipe was another casualty that Christmas morning.  Up until he opened his first video game console, young Dwayne was the number one requested neighborhood babysitter and darling of his local scout troop. He dreamt of growing up and working with the finest medical minds in the search for new treatments for drug resistant bacteria.  His dream was for naught. His addiction took control of his life.
     Dwayne Pipe never married. Today he stocks shelves in the plumbing section of the local Home Depot and is a legend in the online gaming community.  


     Robin Plunder lived down the street from the Bodily's. He too got his first video game console that fateful Christmas morning 2003. After years of therapy, Robin's life continued to spiral downward. The siren's call of that next awesome game drove him into making poor life choices. He sold everything he had, including his dignity, to feed his electronic habit.  
     A life of crime was inevitable for Robin Plunder.  He was the state's first criminal sentenced to life in prison because of the "three strikes and you're out" law. That third strike was for shoplifting a copy of Grand Theft Auto from the local Kmart. 
     Today Robin sits in his small three by five cell reliving his past great electronic victories. He isn't allowed a gaming system so Robin fashioned an imaginary system out of used cereal boxes. A toilet paper tube acts as the game's handheld controller.  
          


    Jilane mistook her new video camera as a kaleidoscope. Once we got that squared, the morning's other challenge was getting her to stopping messing with the zoom feature. Hearing her say, "I can see dad's nose hairs," is still seared in my memory.


     No one was surprised to see Kevin with a new pair of Nike shoes.  What else could Santa give him considering the honor Kevin received from the Philippines the previous month?


     Kevin was awarded the Imelda Marcos Prize (named after the disposed Philippine president) for his tireless work keeping the third world's poor employed in sweatshop shoe factories.  


     Brayden Bodily is seen above sitting with his grandmother Luella.  I doubt the film in Luella's disposable camera ever got developed.  One day, after she's gone on to her reward, we'll find dozens of those disposable cameras under her living room recliner.  


     Later Christmas morning, Jilane brought the boys to the Fortress to show off their new Nintendo. The boys wanted to take their Uncle Victor on in a game of Mario Kart.
I didn't get to play very much. Competitive Jilane butted in.  Brayden and Brock were happy.  They not only got to beat their mom at something, but got to trash talk her while they did it!  


Dustin Dennison, Chaz Bodily, and Brandon Dennison also participated in the Mario Kart Challenge.


Brock waited patiently for his mom to surrender the controls so he could play.


And he waited, and waited, and waited, and waited.....


"I'm outta here," Brock said after giving up on the wait. He scooped up his coat and was gone.

The Annual DelGrosso Christmas Night Spaghetti-O-Rama


     Italian blood runs strong in the Williamson / Vercillino and DelGrosso veins, so what better way to honor our Italian forebearers than to enjoy JD DelGrosso's delicious all you can eat Christmas Night Spaghetti - O - Rama.
     We come from long lines of Italian spaghetti eaters. In fact, many of the earliest photos we have of the DelGrosso and Vercellino Italian ancestors prominently feature spaghetti.


An old unreliable memory says this may or may not be Crimello Vercellio enjoying a plate of spaghetti painted in the late 1700's.


     More recently we have these two possible young Vercellinos, homeless and destitute but still able to find solace in a begged plate of spaghetti possibly outside the DelGrosso's estate walls near Turin, Italy. Remember, I put a great deal of emphasis on "possible".

    

I'm thinking this could be our great great grandfather Vercellino enjoying a plate of spaghetti with a more well to do DelGrosso. Our two families' ties may have started over a plate of spaghetti in the old country and not at the wedding of JD to Kim.


     Above we see three possible Vercellinos photographed showing the Vercellino way of eating spaghetti.  This messy tradition has been passed on to us over the generations.....


     Young Carson seen using the Vercellino method for eating DelGrosso spaghetti at the DelGrosso 2003 Christmas Night All You Can Eat Spaghetti - O - Rama.

  
     Carson being lovingly chastised by his Aunt Afton for using the Vercellino method of inhaling spaghetti.  Afton's face is clean of JD's famous spaghetti sauce.  Afton uses the more refined DelGrosso way of eating spaghetti with a fork and spoon.  


     This is Cameron, brother of Carson.  His clear face tells us he also uses the DelGrosso way of fine, messless dining.  




      Again we have two opposites. Tait uses the Vercellino method while first cousin Abrea DelGrosso uses the DelGrosso method.


Tiernan's Vercellino blood is beginning to take hold.


     The children put the adults in Kim and JD's music room.  They didn't want their meal ruined by mothers telling them what they could or couldn't have.
Left to right:  Bob (yellow shirt) Coronado, Lisa Williamson Coronado, Forest DelGrosso, Annette Belnap, Autumn DelGrosso, Amber DelGrosso, Brandon DelGrosso, Monica DelGrosso, Jon Williamson, Lisa Williamson.  Jon and his wife Lisa were visiting from Las Vegas.
     Lisa is attempting to draw back the audience's attention after they were rudely hijacked by her brother Jon's more amusing story.  Putting Jon and Lisa in the same room is the perfect recipe for an interesting, hilarious evening.  It gets even funnier when they both work the room at the same time.  Knowing who to listen to can be confusing, as seen in the family's divided attention in the photo above.


     Lisa gave the Jon the evil eye to shut him up so she could continue with her new material.  Jon is looking properly repentant.  Brandon hears one of his own screaming in the kitchen and struggles with a proper response - get involved or let them sort it out themselves.  The screaming is grating on Amber's nerves.

Well, there it is, the last of the Christmas 2003 photos.  Hope you enjoyed them and the unreliable memories that went with them.  Next year we'll post the pictures from Christmas 2004.

Be sure to check out the other posts from Christmas 2003:

http://atropesend.blogspot.com/2014/12/mattsonwilliamson-family-christmas.html
http://atropesend.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-williamsons-christmas-eve-party-of.html

Simply,
Victor