Above: “My little Beatle” Georgia P celebrated her first birthday last week. She’s beginning to talk and can say words like “hi,” “mamma,” “daddy,” and “milk.” Her favorite toy friend is the pink mouse (pictured here). She loves to hug the mouse and she wants you to hug the mouse too.

Wow, what a year it has been!

And, my goodness, how it has flown by… When you become a parent for the first time, one of the things folks tell you is how quickly time begins to pass. It’s so true. Georgia P’s first year feels like it passed in the blink of an eye.

She’s doing great… hitting all her milestones on the mark and doing all the fun things that baby girls do. She loves music and dancing, she loves playing with her mommy and daddy, she loves her pink mouse, and she LOVES eating — a child after her parents’ hearts.

Tracie P and I have been very fortunate this year: as my marketing consulting business has continued to grow, she’s become a stay-at-home mom, devoting herself full-time to Georgia P and giving me a hand with our business in her spare time.

And even though our life with a newborn (now a toddler) is just as hectic and upside-down as it for all new parents, this year has been an extremely productive one.

Above: We took Georgia P to Italy in September. Even with all the challenges faced by Italians of all walks of life, they always take immense joy in a child’s smile and sweet laugh.

Among other pieces I published in 2012, I wrote a cover story on the Texas wine industry for the Houston Press; an introduction to Italian wine for La Cucina Italiana, and my band Nous Non Plus released a new album, which I recorded and mixed myself (a first for me).

The wine program I curate in Los Angeles at the restaurant Sotto hosted a dinner for cult winemaker Frank Cornelissen in November (a highlight of my wine year). And in Houston, where I continue to work with my good friend and prince of Italian gastronomy, Tony Vallone, I spoke at a series of truly extraordinary wine dinners, featuring some of my favorite wines.

All in all — suck a lime (and stop smiling)!, as a Russian friend of mine used to say apotropaically — it’s been a blessed year for our family.

And while we still face many financial challenges, our purpose and resolve have never been stronger, our aim never truer.

Above: Tracie P is such a wonderful mother, taking loving care of our little Georgia P, our joy. To watch her become a parent and to share this life together has been to fall in love all over again.

The year in Italian wine has been a remarkable one, by any measure.

It began with the passing of one of the all-time great masters, Giuseppe Quintarelli.

And it has ended on a terrible note, with news that a vandal destroyed six vintages of one of Italy’s most coveted wines in a wanton act of revenge.

My blog was the first to report both stories in the English-language media, bookends to a year in which the Italian wine industry has struggled to regain its footing in the reset that followed the financial crisis of 2008.

Above: The two loves of my lifetime…

For so many reasons — most of them joyous, some of them sad — I’ll never forget the many and truly extraordinary events of 2012.

When I left New York City at the end of 2007, not sure where life would lead me, I never would have imagined in a million years that I’d be living in Texas five years later, husband to the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known and father to the most gorgeous darling little girl that any parent could dream of.

Georgia P, Tracie P, and I are truly blessed by a loving family and a circle of friends here in the U.S. and in Italy who have all shared our joy in Georgia P’s first year.

I know that I never could have made it here if it weren’t for all the support that they’ve given me — in the best of times and in the worst of times.

As 2012 comes to a close, I thank my lucky stars for all of it…

May G-d bless you all and may you enjoy a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season.

I’ll be taking a break from blogging for a while… Thanks again for keeping up with it all… I’ll see you next week…