Bonni Brodnick Blog

  May you find the perfect balance in 2013. Happy New Year  * <|:-)                                                        

     Embrace the little moments of your children being home this holiday week. Don't fret at the 100 pounds of laundry they lugged home from college.   You just gotta luv 'em. Read on ... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bonni-brodnick/empty-nest-home-for-the-holidays-college-children_b_2362659.html (Cut and paste the link above if it's not taking you directement to the story.) 

     Stay tuned for a new  Huffington Post: "Home for the Holidays: Children Back in the Nest." In the meantime, hope you are safe and sound on this stormy/snowy/icy wintery night.

From Penthouse North, sending happy holiday wishes to all of my readers! May the holiday season, and the coming New Year, bring you glad tidings and an abundance of love, happiness and good health.                                                                                                                                        ~Bonni

" Enough with the texting already."  I can't believe I actually phrased it that way when I reprimanded my children (ages 24 and 22) at the dinner table this evening. The delivery would have been less convoluted if I stated it more clearly ... "Stop texting at the dinner table!" or "Put the frikking iPhones away!" When you're with family and friends this holiday season, be present . Enough with the texting already.

The response I'm getting to my Huffington Post blog about conversation etiquette at holiday parties is hilarious   ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ bonni-brodnick/ holiday-etiquette-tips_b_229010 1.html ).   New add-ons to the list include (and I have to say ... some are pretty obvious, but people are still victim to the impolite): 1. Don't text and talk.  Eye contact gets lost in the transaction. 2. Don't pour yourself a drink without asking the other person if they'd like a refill. 3. Swallow then talk. 4. If someone has a wog on their cheek, tell them.  (What is a "wog," you might ask? A wog is a piece of food that has somehow flown out of your mouth or off of your plate and lodged itself onto your face.) 5. Send a thank you note to the host/hostess after the party. As my 81-year old mother says, "Manners were invented to make people feel good." If you have any other addendums to the story, let me know. The more the merrier.

     Funerals have begun for the beloved children in Newtown as they are buried in unbearably small coffins. In an obituary, one of the families asked, "How do you capture the essence of a six year old in just a few words?" We share the sorrow of this horror and mourn with the families and friends of their fallen angels. May their souls be forever blessed in heaven.

See that gnarly Grinch below? Thanks for making my new blog top-of-the list on HUFF/Post50 "More Top Stories" list.   Be polite or I won't give you the link to the story.  Okay ... here go you ...  CLICK HERE .

          With the holiday season in full swing, many have calendars bursting with engagements -- from office, glögg and yuletide gatherings, to cookie exchanges, snow balls and other jolly paloozas. It's as good a time as any to review the etiquette of social intercourse. Check out my Huffington Post:  "Conversation Etiquette for the Holidays (And Always)" ... * Hit this link for the whole story. Go ahead ... that's not rude. I swear.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bonni-brodnick/holiday-etiquette-tips_b_2290101.html

Did someone talk your ear off at the last holiday gathering?  In my new Huffington Post, " Conversation Etiquette for the Holidays ," you'll find some helpful tips  on how to gracefully navigate the next wassail party on your yuletide calendar.  * < | :~)

     Don't get frazzed on Saturday with holiday craziness. Take a breather and re-charge at Erica's Kitchen in Bedford Village. This market and bistro-style restaurant offers a zone of calm, along with locally produced foods, goodies ... and books! Many thanks to Erica for the wonderful Pound Ridge Past gift display!  

Carl Breuninger, one of Pound Ridge's native sons, has died.  We will miss his generosity, kindness and all he did for the town he loved. I am deeply humbled to have had the opportunity to interview Carl for my book,  Pound Ridge Past. We met in the town cemetery on a cold and golden October morning.  Following is an excerpt from his chapter:                                                                                                                                         Photo:  Fran Collin

The wintry knitted skies were exactly the same as they are today when, twenty-two years ago, my beautiful daughter Annie was born.