Greetings to our family and friends, and Buone Feste (Happy Holidays) from our new home in Little Italy, Baltimore!

We started 2014 with a wedding - Krissy married Joe on the 11th of January. It was a great event - we were so thrilled to have so many cousins and friends travel in from all over the US to join us. Everyone had a great time, and we couldn’t be luckier to have our new son-in-law. Fortunately, they got off to Hawaii on their honeymoon before all the “polar vortexes” hit the East Coast!

The new couple with us and cousins Lou, Re, and Eileen.

And the "Carbone clan" - cousins from the original seven Carbone brothers and sisters who came to the US. — And the "Carbone clan" - cousins from the original seven Carbone brothers and sisters who came to the US.

In February, Trish decided to start planning for a future career or hobby - she began a website called “Bring More Wine”. She and Ernie try to document special bottles of wine - with or without meals - to share her passion in oenology and viticulture. Check it out!

Matt moved to Brooklyn in March along with Mr. Cooper. He is having a great time being in the big city, and his business is doing great by being closer to renowned architects. We are thrilled for him. We also got together with a bunch of alumni friends from Ernie's Stevens Institute, including Ray and Dorothy and also Ron and his friend Deb. We had the pleasure of seeing Ray and Dorothy's granddaughter, Maggie Rose, perform at the Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club.

Our friend Dorothy and her granddaughter, Maggie Rose. We enjoyed her performance very much - an excellent singer and songwriter!

In April, we visited cousins Mike and Carmen in Sanibel Island. After being cold for so long with the polar vortexes, it was wonderful to be able to sit in the sunshine and thaw out for a few days.

In May we went down to the Pentagon to cheer on the Rolling Thunder participants. What an amazing spectacle - and how sobering to think of all the Service people who have given their lives for our great nation.

In June, Krissy and Joe moved into their new home. They also informed us on Father’s Day that we are going to be grandparents sometime in early 2015. That was very exciting. We also visited our friends, Jon and Carole, out in Delaware in June.

Cousins Diana, Brett, and Ron in Philadelphia's Little Italy.

In July, we attended a cousin's wedding in Philadelphia (Justin and Jessica). That gave us the opportunity to see a bunch of Ernie’s cousins again, plus see a bit of Philadelphia. We had a great time, including walking to Philadelphia's Little Italy and soaking up the atmosphere.

Cousins Celia, Nancy, and Ron at the wedding.

That same month, we took the huge step of putting our Potomac house on the market after twenty years of living there. We found a super condo in Little Italy in Baltimore, so thus started the move. In August, we officially moved most of our furniture, leaving some in the house and also putting a bunch of things in storage. It is hard to downsize! The Embassy is temporarily in a “secure location” - when we move to a more permanent location, we will re-open the Embassy! Meanwhile, we enjoyed getting to know our new neighborhood, including going to the free Friday night movies (to include Moonstruck!) in the Little Italy parking lot.

The Embassy of Seborga is temporarily moved to a "secure location".

Beginning to move things into our new condo.

September was fun in our new home - we had our first guests with friends Angela and Ivan, and also cousins Laura and Steve. Baltimore celebrated the 200th anniversary of the writing of the “Star Spangled Banner” with the Star Spangled Spectacular. We visited a bunch of the sailing ships and Navy ships that pulled into town along with friends Davide and Karla and their adorable twins, Aurora and Gianluca. And what a great location to live in to view fireworks - just carry chairs over to the harbor, watch the fireworks, and then walk back home. No parking necessary!

Fireworks at Baltimore's Star Spangled Spectacular - only walking distance from our new home!

After being on the market for four months, the Potomac house finally sold in November. We cleaned out the last of the furniture, giving most of it away to various friends. We have a lot of wonderful memories from that home that we will keep forever. For now, Ernie commutes to DC on the train, which is turning out to be a very easy commute. Trish drops him off at the BWI Rail station, as she is only a few miles from her job location at that point. We also had friends Jon and Carole join us for a weekend of Little Italy fun in November.

We bid farewell to the house in the Potomac.

And now it’s December, and we are experiencing our first Little Italy Christmas. We have started taking Italian lessons from the school associated with St. Leo’s (the local Catholic Church), and we are making friends with the local restaurant owners, bakery owners, and other people in the neighborhood. The area is decorated, the bells are ringing, and Matt is home for the holidays, along with Mr. Cooper. Krissy and Joe and Joe’s dad (Joe Sr.) spent Christmas Eve with us for the annual Feast of Seven Fishes - along with their dog, Romeo. We are looking forward to the birth of Giuliana Rose sometime in January or early February.

...and Snoopy Santa motors through the neighborhood.

We helped Santa decorate Little Italy's Christmas Tree.

We wish everyone a Buon Natale and Felice Anno Nuovo. Please keep in touch. We would love to see you if you are in town. Hugs to all, Trish and Ernie!

After all these years, Ernie still thinks he can fool Santa into thinking he should be on the "good" list!