Christmas Eve

Well, my Christmas Eve started by talking to Nick on skype!  He was going to bed, as I was waking up!  However, we were able to talk for about 45 minutes, so it was nice!  April was also awake, so I was able to talk to her on facebook for a little bit, and then I talked to Stuart, Barret's husband as well.  They were in the airport in Australia.  They had been in New Zealand for a few days, and were now landing in Australia, and would go back to New Zealand in a few days!  What an amazing Christmas trip!  :)

It was SO sunny...and WARM outside!! It was so beautiful that I was able to open the windows!! 

My sad little tree that I did not even buy lights for!

When I turned on the tv to find something to have on as background noise, the only thing on tv was the original Willy Wonka.  Anyone who knows me well knows that this movie freaks me out...non mi piace...but, I left it on because there was nothing else.  I did turn the volume way down!  However, prior to doing so, I watched a few minutes of it!  Willy Wonka freaks me out even more in Italian!  I think it is because he is speaking a different language, and I do not understand all that he is saying; therefore, blah ...scary!

SO, I worked on blogs, cleaned some more, and then I talked to my momma on the phone for a little bit!  I eventually took a shower, dried my hair, and got dressed to go to Francesca's house and eventually Lilla's house!  I decided that because it was going to be a long day, I wanted to be comfortable.  So, I decided to wear my new H & M sweater; with this outfit there is the possibility for layers, so I figured it was best!

So much hair!!

I wore my dragonfly earrings because I was thinking of my love, Erin!

Sweater is a little baggy...but comfy!

 Franceasca called as I was about to finish getting ready to walk out the door, so that I could catch the bus, and said that she was going to be in Cosenza, and she would just come pick me up!  THANK GOODNESS!!!  So, I finished getting dressed, worked on blogs, and waited for her.  I watched out the window some, but when she buzzed, I grabbed my stuff and ran downstairs.  She was with her daughter, who did not want to speak in English.  So, it was a mixed conversation, with me speaking very little Italian.  Why am I so afraid?? So, we had to walk to her car, and we stopped in a few stores that her daughter, Maria (I think) wanted to stop in.  She told me that lunch was supposed to be pizza cooked in the outdoor oven, so that sounded good to me!  On our way there we stopped at her mother-in-law's house, which looked really big, and her daughter ran in to get homemade Cuddruriaddri.  I was excited to try a homemade one!

So when we arrived at her house, we put our stuff down and went downstairs.  Her husband told her that he was having issues with the outside oven, so he would have to cook them inside.  Francesca offered to make pasta, but I was fine with the pizzas.  Her husband was at a big table making them by hand.  I am pretty sure that he made the dough himself...at least that was how it appeared to me!

I walked outside to look at the view, which was a pretty good one...if you like seeing the hills of Italy, which I do!  I took my Cuddruriaddri outside and ate it while they finished lunch! 

Her daughter was cutting some meat, cheese, and putting everything on the table.  I watched as her husband made pizzas and just enjoyed watching this ritual.  It looked like a lot of food for lunch, but it was all simple, yet amazing things.  We had different kinds of cheese, meat, pizza, arugula, tomatoes, and I think that was it!  It was really good...light, yet filling!  I do not have any pictures, but it was yummy! Conversation was mostly between them, and in Italian.  The news was on tv, so I watched some of it.  Francesca asked if I understand it, and so I explained that I understand some of it, and it depends on what they are talking about.  Francesca spoke to me some in English, and her son and daughter did too!  Her son is better than her daughter.  They kept trying to feed me more and more pizza, but I explained that I cannot eat that much!  Her son, Mario, explained that in America we have 1 pizza for a family, and in Italy they have an entire pizza for one person!  Yes, this is SO true!  Francesca kept asking what we eat in America for Christmas Eve, but I tried desperately to explain that we do not have typical dishes; it varies by family!  We may try new recipes, or use recipes passed down through our families.  So, lunch was nice...I was happy to be there!  It was a beautiful day, and lunch was very good.  It was fun to watch them all interact, communicate, and of course I LOVE the hand gestures! Soooo uniquely Itlaian!!!   Her son and daughter were planning to leave like 20 minutes after we finished eating; they were going to Cosenza, and so they offered me a ride.  We went upstairs first, and I was able to look around on Francesca's bookshelves for a few minute!  She has sooo many books, and I LOVE it!! She really does LOVE England...and Ireland.  She has a lot of books, nicknacks, and souvenirs.  She said that she really loves children's books as well.  Her son was trying to fix something on the computer, and we just browsed the shelves.  My dream is to one day have a room full of bookshelves.  I also went upstairs to use the bathroom, and I am amazed at how cold some areas of Italian homes can be!  It is shocking.  I simply CANNOT allow my apartment to get that cold...I'd be so miserable. 

So, not too much longer after this, they took me home! They stopped at their Nonna's house again, and I met some of their cousins.  Her daughter and I managed to communicate in Italian a little bit while her son went inside.  It was not perfect, but...it was Italian.  I was excited to get home just before 4 because Lilla was supposed to be picking me up around 7, and so this gave me time to go out and walk off some of the food we ate.  So, I walked to the Coroso, and just walked slowly and enjoyed people watching.  There were kids playing, people out shopping, music coming from some of the bars, and some people standing in the street drinking.  I went in a few stores, but did not buy anything.  I do not need to spend more money...not necessary!!  I did stop in the bookstore for a while...I looked at the bookmarks, translated some of them (because they are quotations written in Italian), and looked at some books!  I had been checking my phone for emails from Nick because he was going to let me know if he could skype.  I had been in the bookstore for a bit...I looked for an Italian Bible and found some other books I want...I want all the books...anyway, I then checked my phone and had an email from Nick.  I immediately abandoned the crowded bookstore and practically ran home.  I was excited to have gone to the bookstore because it made Christmas Eve feel a little bit more normal; I feel like the past few years my momma and I have gone to Barnes & Noble on Christmas Eve, just to kill time and enjoy browsing!  So...it was nice.

On my way home, I saw so many "fireworks" or poppers that it was ridiculous.  Just as I made it upstairs I heard them out in the street in front of my apartment...sure enough, someone was actin' a fool and shooting big fireworks between the buildings..not cool...and NOT safe!!  What in the world...does Italy not have regulations against these things??  Also on my way home I saw one of my students from the Castrolibero school; it was the student who first tried to teach me to say Cuddruriaddri.  I met his girlfriend, and said the word for him.   He was not nearly as proud as my other students have been, but he agreed that I had improved...I suppose that will do!  He had me say Connecticut for him and then he repeated...it was good.  It was good to see him, and I do enjoy seeing them outside of school!

So anyway, I made it home and emailed Nick to see if he could skype!  Not too much longer after I got home, I was able to skype with him!  Then I was able to skype with my momma and daddy!!!!  yay!  Then I was able to skype with Nick again!  The creator or Skype is my favorite person!  I had so much fun seeing their faces.  I was then able to skype with Kelly, Gracie, Sarah Mason, and Tony for a little bit!  Did I mention that I LOVE skype!?!?!?  They were so much fun...they really want to meet Nick, and I really want them to meet him!  Tony said he must meet him!  I am so glad that everyone is so interested in Nick!!  Anyway, I really enjoyed talking to my girls...AND I got to hear them sing! Woo hoo!! Greatest gift... Then, I was able to talk to my momma again!  It was so nice to talk to so many people I love on Christmas Eve!  Lilla rang the buzzer while I was talking to my momma, so I finished my conversation, and then ran downstairs to meet Lilla.

Lilla gave me kisses and we talked about how it had been a long time since I'd seen her!  It has been; almost 2 weeks.  That was a weird thought.  Time flies here in Italy!  I don't know about you guys, but I can barely believe that I have almost been here for 3 full months!  Anyway, so we drove to Lilla's apartment.  Stores were already closed, but there were a few bars open along the way, which kind of surprised me!  Lilla tried to stop to buy a card for her mom to use, and we went through a whole long drawn out process to find a parking space and roll up the windows, only for the place to be closed!  So, then we headed to her building.  She was needing a card because her mom cannot leave the building, and so she just gives money in cards for Christmas.  We arrived and went to Lilla's apartment first.  She had me wait while she changed her mom, and then we picked out cards for her gifts.  She had a pretty big bag for me, so I was really curious to see what it was!  And when I say we picked out cards I mean that she asked me what I thought, and then went with something else...haha.  Afterwards, we gathered the presents, and helped her mom out of the door and onto the elevator.  Then Lilla came back down to help me get the gifts.  I walked the stairs (up one flight), but Lilla was shocked and said, "nooo...the lift....!!!" I said, "nooo, the stairs! I do not like elevators and do not ride them unless I have to!"  She seemed a little put out that I did not ride the elevator, but I refuse to ride them unless it is absolutely necessary, and especially Italian ones because they are TINY!!!

So, when I went in and saw Alessandra, we began speaking in Italian...well, she spoke in Italian, I understood some, and gave short responses.  I just cannot do it.  It's starting to really frustrate me!  So, we hung out a little bit while dinner was finishing.  We went to her room with Lilla and talked for a bit!  Alessandra was speaking in Italian, but Lilla was speaking in English...this makes it so much harder on me because my brain is trying to switch back and forth, which usually means that I understand less of the Italian that normal.  I was beginning to get really hungry, but thankfully it was appetizer time soon.  The table was really pretty...and I took a few pictures, but unfortunately I hate the one of me and Alessandra (I hate it of me)...so here are the ones I do have before we started eating! 

Lilla and Me before dinner

Their tree

The appetizer was bread with these two different spreads on them...the first was a dried tomato spread that Alessandra's mom (Lilla's sister) made.  The second one was a Gorgonzola cheese/cream cheese spread.  We also had these kabob things with mozzarella, tomatoes, and olives on them.

Appetizers

I ate all but the olives, and it was good!  I never thought I'd see the day that I ate tomatoes...or especially whole tomatoes!  To make it more interesting, I actually have a preference for which type of tomatoes to use for certain things: regular ones for my new favorite lunch and the smaller ones (cherry tomatoes, etc) for cooking.  Who am I?? They also had me try this REALLY spicy stuff that I KNOW my momma would have liked!!  It almost killed me!  Then we heard fireworks, so we ran to the kitchen balcony and watched a few of them!  These were bigger, but we heard the poppers all night long.  People were dropping fireworks off of their balconies, doing them in the street, etc. etc.  The lack of regulations is shocking...and the dangerous things I saw made my stomach turn!  Also, the trip through the kitchen was smelly...a lot of fish! I also spotted the veggies and stuff at this point.  We also had some fizzy wine and some of this weird spritzer stuff that the Italians drink; it is like a bitters or something.

So dinner was the following:
1st Course (for me and those who did not want fish...nephew does not like fish either): Pasta with mushrooms (no, I have not taken up eating mushrooms, so I just pushed them to the side)
2nd course: usually meat, but tonight it was all veggies for me.  I gave finocchio a second try, but still can barely swallow it!  There was some cold pumpkin stuff that was good.  I had bread and some really good cheese!!  I tried the broccoli stuff they make (that I SWEAR is actually spinach), but it still is not for me!  Umm...the BEST was a "Russian" dish that was really just potato salad!! It was amazing!!!  I also had the option to eat beets or radishes...neither of which I eat.  We also had some fruit, etc.   
They had a lot of fish and such.  I was definitely full when dinner was over.  My favorite was the potato salad! I was so grateful that there were options other than fish!!

Dinner conversation was good!  Lilla's sister is having to learn English, so we tested her on the words she knew.  They tested me a little bit as well.  I also got to explain the idea of a "cankle"...haha...because her sister was confusing "ankle" and "uncle"...the pronunciations!   At 9:00 the baby Jesus MUST be placed in the "crib", which is what they call the nativities they set up in their houses, schools, businesses, etc.  Only at 9:00. 

After dinner, they were ready to open the presents.

My gifts

 I thought it was funny that all of the gifts were just in the bags that they were bought in; no gift wrapping...no gift bags...hmmm...is this just an American thing?? They do put things in nicer bags than we do I suppose, but I still found this a big odd because then you already have an idea of what it is because the bag always has the name of the store on it.  It takes away a bit of the mystery.  Well, not for me actually because Lilla's gift was in a non descriptive bag, Alessandra actually wrapped mine, and Lilla's sister put mine in a gift bag...they knew their audience????  They were so sweet to give me gifts, which they did NOT have to do!  Alessandra gave me a cute little make up bag...Lilla gave me a Betty Boop backpack, which she said was for me to use on trips, and her sister gave me a beautiful scarf (scarves are my FAVORITE!!!!).  The other "strange" thing to me about the gift opening was that they all do it at once.  No one is paying attention to the others.  I suppose this has its advantages, but it was VERY different than in my household, or others that I have spent Christmas with! 

They gave each other things like belts, face lotions, blankets, pictures, umm...bathrobe....etc. Oh, and MONEY...a lot of money was given!

After gifts, we went to Alessandra's room.  She and I sat and talked for a bit...half in English, half in Italian.  We talked about New Year's Eve, New York City, fireworks, parities, life, etc.  She is so sweet, and I really enjoy talking to her!  Lilla joined us for a bit, and then her sister (Alessandra's mom) brought in dessert.  They were turdilli and some other traditional treats.  They were yummy!

Then, we got dressed for church!  We were going to midnight mass, and Alessandra and I were already falling asleep!  However, we "bundled up" and headed out.  I rode with Alessandra, while the others (Lilla, her sister, brother-in-law, and nephew) all rode in a separate car!  On the way there we had to stop at this red light that was like a 3 way stoplight.  Alessandra informed me that she HATES this red light because you HAVE to wait for everyone to have their turn, and it takes forever.  I explained that all stoplights are like this in the U.S.  I think it is very Italian to not want to wait at a stoplight...because stop signs are sometimes just a suggestion over here...and forget about yield signs!  However, Alessandra is a wonderful driver!  When we arrived, we had to search for a parking spot.  We saw one of her friends on our way in, and when Alessandra introduced me, the girl said (in English), "I'm so sorry, but I do not speak English!" Haha...no problem!  We walked into the church, and this church does not look like the traditional Italian Catholic church, but it was still beautiful!  It was warm in there too, which I was grateful for! 

So, we squeezed onto a pew with some of Alessandra's friends.  It was hard to sit or stand...I eventually had to take off my coat because I was feeling claustrophobic.  It was nice though! I was able to understand some of the mass, which was good!  They sang some familiar songs...Christmas songs...but of course in Italian!  They have to change so many of the words for some of them that they do not say anything close to what our version says, but it is still nice to hear familiar tunes!  At one point this guy came up behind me and was whispering in my ear about love or something and then he realized that I was not Alessandra!  However, I can see his confusion because Alessandra is one of the few Italians I know that does not have dark, dark, dark brown hair!  Her hair is very similar to mine, if not a little lighter, and it appears to be natural!  So, when mass was over (around 1:30ish), the kisses began!  All of the friends in the group were hugging, kissing, saying "Tanti Auguri", "Buon Natale", etc. etc.  It was fun to watch them all interact!  When they would see me they would pause for a second, and then come in for kisses saying, "Merry Christmas!!!??!!!!"  It was very sweet of them to say it in English!  We slowly made our way outside and a bunch of them were smoking...so, I tried to move far away from it, but that is nearly impossible in Italy!  They were all exchanging little gifts and such. Then Luigi, Alessandra's best friend, arrived and we had to go down to his car!  I was beginning to freeze at this point, but they were all exchanging gifts, hugs, kisses, etc. etc.  Luigi gave them all signed pictures of himself to begin with!  He is so much fun, and I can definitely see why Alessandra loves him so much!  After we'd stood outside for a while, they decided that they were going to a bar, but I asked to go home because I had to get up early for Virginia's, while they could all sleep as long as they wanted.  So, sweet Alessandra, and a few friends, dropped me off at my apartment before they headed out!

One of my favorite things about this day was that I kept receiving sweet text messages from my students telling me "Merry Christmas" and such!  They are so sweet! I had thought earlier about texting them first, but decided that I would do it on Christmas, but they beat me to it!  LOVE THEM!!!  It made my heart smile! 

So, even though I got home around 2ish, I saw that my momma was on skype...so I called her!  We talked for a bit, and technically it was Christmas where I am, so I opened the present that Frances sent me to Italy with!

I wanted to open it with my momma!  Then, I randomly saw that I had a new email and it was from Frances!!! HOW STRANGE IS THAT???? I told her I'd just opened the gift...and I LOVED it...I love, love, love my new bracelet!  I am finally starting to fit in with the Italians that wear all of the bracelets.  Well, I now wear two on my left wrist (the one from Frances and the one from my Avery girls) and one on my right wrist (the one that April had made for me!).  SO, I talked to my momma for a little while, and then we hung up.  Then I was able to talk to Nick.  Then I talked to Nick again before they left for church because his siblings wanted to say Merry Christmas.  So, I got to meet his brother and sister!  They were sooo incredibly sweet!   We laughed at some random stuff...and it was fun to meet them!  They could not talk long because they were running late for church, and threatened to blame me...nooo...not my fault!  They were kidding of course, but I really was happy to meet them!  Then, just as I had put my computer down on the floor, at almost 4 am, my April skype called me!! yay April!!!  I talked to April, Gavin (nephew), Reagan (niece), and Kim (sister-in-law).  It was so good to see my love's face!  She even got Gavin to say, "Buon Natale", which he then apparently walked around saying for a little while!  I was so happy to have seen her face!!

I saw so many faces today, and it made me happy!! However, I did not get to talk to Erin as I had anticipated, but tomorrow for sure!!

Overall, it was a wonderful Christmas Eve. 

P.S. I was starting to worry about the bad weather that was going to be hitting Alabama on Christmas day...tornadoes...not cool!