As winter approaches and snow is in the air, I was thinking about how I spent hours sledding with my brothers and sister and neighborhood friends. The above photo is of me and my big brother Carmen on our brand new sled. I tried to capture those childhood memories in my 1992 book "Ice Cold Birthday" only the "kids" in the illustration are myself, my husband and daughters.
Going back to sledding as a kid... I come from Everett, Massachusetts outside of Boston, where we had no backyard to speak of...so being the creative (and crazy) kids we were, we sledded down a narrow "alley" between our house and the house next door. The alley ended on the street...(which by the way, was a bus route.) Before we began our sledding adventures we'd shovel a big mound of snow at the botton of the alley to stop the sleds before they went onto the street. (Sometimes nothing could stop those sleds!) It's amazing to think we survived those winter days being kids in the city. (I can't even believe our parents let us do that!) So to my brothers; Carmen, Ted and Stephen and sister Diane...and neighborhood friends including Karen & Rosanne ( who are still my best friends today!)...Let's go sledding! I'll meet you in the alley!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.
