That would be Merry Christmas, in Italian, of course. They also say buone feste and tanti auguri which are similar to happy holidays and season's greetings. Christmas is different here, for sure, but many things are also the same. I would say things are a bit tamer than the out-of-control, bright lights everywhere, commercialism, over-the-top, American style Christmas. As I drive down our street, I do not see any Christmas lights on houses, but if you look closely, you can see a lit tree or a few strands of lights in a window, that is if you catch the view before all the shutters have been closed for the night. There is a house up on the corner where our street meets the more major thru-street, and they have a good set-up of blinking lights and a large lit star.
We have packed away the blow-up Santa, reindeer and sleigh, icicle lights, and all the other Griswald-style outdoor holiday decorations and have instead opted for only inside lights on a nice tree (first artificial one ever) and white lights on the lemon tree, which has been brought inside for the winter. I have also hung a string of lit stars across the kitchen window which are visible from outside until we shut down our shutters for the night.
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| Josh at his Christmas show. |
Last weekend, we also had the privilege of accompanying Isabel to her ballet recital which was held in Padova, a city about 25 minutes drive East of us. The ballet school rented buses and we all went as a big group. Apparently, the ballet instructor has a friendship with a person who runs a beautiful small museum/theater located in the center of Padova. It was a beautiful location. There was a ball room with parquet floors and high ceilings with ornate gold molding. Two giant crystal chandeliers hung down to light the room. We dropped Isabel off so that the girls could practice and then headed out to walk around the center. Sunday is market day in Padova so it was bustling with people. It was cold and brisk, and there were plenty of extra vendors given the Christmas season. We warmed up with some more Vin Brule.
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| Isabel (and Isabella) ready to dance. |
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| A small shot of the beautiful room. |
We are now packing up for a Christmas trip to Bavaria. We are very fortunate to have American friends living there, and they are hosting us for the holiday. We plan to ski as much as possible! That's what they do there in the winter. Our friends have an 8 year old boy in the local American school. Every Wednesday afternoon the kids have ski lessons through the school. Is that great, or what?!? We have actually packed snowboards, snow shoes, and xcountry skis. These are the times when having a Ford Explorer is great! We are also ready to enjoy some Gluwein, Beer, and pretzels. Good ol' German food......we won't expect to see any vegetables until we arrive back in Italy.
Today is the last day of school for the Christmas break. It's pretty typical, I think. We haven't done the American elementary school thing yet, but here they have the usual little party with the class, gifts for teachers (some do, some don't) and some parents bring little things for all the kids in their child's class (not so common but I saw a couple mammas do it). I will say that it sounds like the American schools (at least here) have more parent involvement. You may have read the now infamous "Why French Parents are Superior" article that appeared in the WSJ last year (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204740904577196931457473816.html). I can't remember if it was in the original article or the follow-up, but they touched on parent involvement in schools, or rather non-involvement. This is not a negative thing, it's just a different way of doing things. It also does not mean the parent is not involved in the child's learning and homework, activities, etc. It just means when you drop off your child at school, you drop off your child. Parents do not come to the classroom, they do not come to parties, and they are not encouraged to volunteer in the classroom. If you need to talk with the teacher about something, there is a communication book that is carried in your child's backpack and you would request such a thing there.
I love both kids' teachers. They exude the usual Italian love for children. It's something so characteristic to Italians and it's great. Josh's teacher will cup his cheeks in her hands and give him a big kiss. If she did that in America she would be getting a letter from someone's lawyer. When I drop off Josh in the morning, it's usually into the care of a nun who looks to be about 80 years old with the energy of someone 40 years her junior. Suora Flavia is always wearing her perfectly white habit. (As an aside, I saw another nun the other day riding her bike. It was about 30degrees outside and she had on a full, perfectly white habit and a white scarf that she was holding over her mouth with one hand, and she was steering the bike with the other. It was a very busy road and she was about 70 years old. It's just another one of those scenes that makes you say, "only in Italy.") Getting back to the story, Suora Flavia takes Josh into the big room where all the kids gather in the morning under a large statue of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus. It's another reminder that we are in Italy and only a few hours away from Rome. I will be touching on the non-separation of church and state in another post.
Time to finish the packing. The kids have become good travelers. So far, they have been to Spain, France, Germany, Austria, and of course, all over their new home of Italy. Not so bad. We hope to lengthen that list over the next couple years. For now, it's back to Germany. Not a bad place to go for Christmas.
Tanti Auguri and Buon Natale to all our friends and family! We miss you!
