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PhotO courteSy OF JOVITA NETTO

From left, Frank, Kevin Jr., and Mary Netto. Frank, Kevin Jr.'s grandfather, died earlier this year, while Kevin was at Camp Pendleton, preparing to deploy to Afghanistan. The rest of the family, including Mary Netto, will be celebrating Christmas without two loved ones this year.

WESTHAMPTON - When he was little, Kevin Netto Jr. would be the one to roust his parents out of bed Christmas morning, anxious to find out what Santa left him under the tree.

As a young man he shared the excitement with his niece, Meriel, seating her in his lap and handing her present after present like a Santa Claus in training.

This will be Kevin's first Christmas away from home. Now 21, and a specialist first class in the U.S. Marine Corps, he'll be spending the holiday at Camp Pendleton in San Diego while preparing to deploy to Afghanistan.

It will also be the Netto family's first Christmas without their youngest son, Kevin, in the house, and their first without his grandfather, Frank Netto, who died earlier this year.

Those absences will certainly be felt, though they won't be far from their relatives' thoughts, when some of the family gathers tonight at the Northampton home of Frank's widow, Mary, a ritual that includes an Italian dinner and the grown-ups exchanging gifts.

Tomorrow the rest of the family, including Kevin's two older siblings, will get together at the Westhampton home of their parents, Kevin Sr. and Jovita "Chiqui" Netto.

In the morning Meriel, now 5, will open her presents, but without help from her favorite uncle. Chiqui said the ritual will be bittersweet without her youngest taking part.

"It will be quiet this year without him. ... At least I'll have one little one at home now," she said of her granddaughter.

But as they do every day, Chiqui and Kevin Sr. will talk to their son on the phone.

"I really look forward to those calls," Chiqui said, "When he was in boot camp, it was 13 weeks of no communication except letters."

She wrote her son a letter every day during those 13 weeks until he was allowed to use the phone again.

Kevin Jr. said he'll miss being around for the family gathering this year, but said his training schedule and the high price of airplane tickets made going home impractical.

"It's probably going to be a little lonely, but there's noting I can do about it," he said in a cell phone interview recently. He said he'll probably spend the day with other Marines who are staying around Camp Pendleton for the holiday.

March deployment

This month Kevin Jr. has been going through in intensive pre-deployment training. He and others in his unit are tentatively scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan in March.

"My main job will be to protect the convoys in case we're attacked," he said.

His duties will also involve building roads and structures. In addition to physical fitness and marksmanship, he's training to use bulldozers, backhoes and other heavy construction equipment. That kind of work, he said, is right up his alley.

Kevin Jr. attended Hampshire Regional High School in Westhampton before going to work full time for his parents' business, Netto Construction. He helped renovate buildings at Smith, Amherst and Mount Holyoke colleges, and also took part in woodworking projects large and small, from timber framing to building cabinets.

After about five years on the job, he joined the Marines in January, making a four-year commitment. When he fulfills it, he plans to return to the family business - as the boss.

"I just wanted to do something for myself before I took over the business," he said of joining the Marines.

Kevin Jr. said he's not nervous about deploying to a war zone, saying he looks forward to it as an opportunity to earn lots of medals.

Chiqui said she's feeling a little more apprehensive than her son, though she supports his decision to enter the service. "I'm worried for him and all of them serving in the military," she said.

Military service runs in the family. Kevin's grandfather, Frank Sr., served in the Navy during World War II; his uncle, Frank Jr., was in the Army in the late 1970s.

A Northampton resident and longtime owner of the Model Bake Shop in Florence, Frank Netto Sr. died Aug. 15 at age 84.

"Frank loved Christmas," Chiqui said. "He made dozens and dozens of cookies for his grandchildren and children for Christmas each year."

His service in the Navy, which netted him a few medals of his own, struck a chord with Kevin Jr., Chiqui said. During a private burial ceremony earlier this year, Kevin Jr. placed one of the first medals he earned in his grandfather's casket, a quiet salute to someone who inspired him.

James F. Lowe can be reached at jlowe@gazettenet.com.