Over the holidays, we were blessed with our second grandchild – Vincent Page Cazzetta.
I am, of course, honoured he carries my name as his middle name. But it is his first name that carries the deeper story. Vincey is named after my son-in-law’s grandfather, Vincent Charles Cazzetta, and after Kyle’s father, Vinnie Cazzetta. He will likely answer to Vincey, or VP, or – according to some – even vPage! (-:
Kyle is a history buff. On the day of his son’s birth, December 16th, he realized that exactly eighty-one years earlier, on December 16, 1941, Vincey’s great-grandfather was nineteen years old, in a foxhole in Belgium, waiting for the Battle of the Bulge to begin.
That realization led the family back through an old scrapbook of Vincent Charles’ belongings. Tucked among those pages was a rather remarkable poem, and I’ll share it tomorrow.
I wrote a poem for Vincey titled “Vincent’s First Christmas.” I want to share it here – not as an explanation, but as an offering. It somewhat mirrors a poem I wrote for our first granddaughter, titled Collin’s First Christmas.
Sometimes the best way to begin a year is to begin where others began.
Vincent Page Cazzetta’s
First Christmas
Vincent
from the Latin
vincentem
meaning
to conquer
to endure
to prevail
a name
carried forward
Vincent C.
Vinnie
Now you
Page
a leaf
a turning
a story
still being written
Cazzetta
old world
strong hands
names that last
It is your first Christmas
Vincent
born
December sixteenth
eight pounds
eight ounces
solid
sure
born near the solstice
when nights are longest
and the light
begins
It’s slow return
a quiet promise
written in the stars
Emily
steadfast
fierce
brought you forth
the old way
no cut
no shortcut
just strength
and breath
and resolve
and when the pushing
grew hardest
Peach arrived
Cathy
mother
grandmother
steady hands
ancient calm
She stepped in
to help bring you through
while Kyle
strapping
Yale footballer
was gently
stationed on the sofa
under strict orders
to stay upright
fatherhood
observed
this time
But here you were
unbothered
already winning
You will be
Vincent
or Vinny
or VP
perhaps even
vPage
for a while
names arrive
the way people do
slowly
then all at once
You come from
men who believed
That winning matters
but character
matters more
from Vincent C. Cazzetta
champion coach
teacher of boys
who learned
How to lead
by being led
from Vinnie Cazzetta
athlete
West Point strong
now school president
shaping young men
with calm authority
and earned respect
from Vince Lombardi
who taught
that excellence
is a habit
not an act
from Vincent Van Gogh
who saw the world
as it could be
wake now
Vincent
there is much to see
Your first tree
Your first lights
Your first quiet
held breath
sleep
tiny conqueror
wrapped in wonder
strong from the start
welcome
Vincent Page Cazzetta
To your first Christmas!
Love,
gPa
(Dec 25, 2026)
Margin note:
December 16, 1944 — the Battle of the Bulge begins.
On this day, Vincent C. Cazzetta was in uniform, in winter, in harm’s way.
Eighty-one years later, on the same date, his grandson is born into peace.
