Christmas

Spencer and Ross are ready!

You work so hard to get to Christmas Eve, it is just wonderful when it arrives. I know Laura did the Lion's share of it, but we all helped to make some part of the dinner. We have a family tradition that we know goes back at least five generations of making a formal, several course, Italian meal on Christmas Eve. We all agree that the most important part of it is the antipasta course.

Stuffed Zucchini made by Grandma Gloria~to die for!

Jim made the red peppers!
The trick is to eat everything...
just not too much of it.

The antipasta was followed by a pasta course and then a main course of roasted chicken and vegetables and Tiramisu (Mormon style, no coffee no alcohol!) for dessert. After dinner we had a family devotional about the birth of the Savior with a special program that Robert had compiled from Luke 2 and with hymns interspersed between the sections of the scriptures. It was a beautiful and meaningful experience. Here in Italy Christmas is all about the birth of Christ (what a novel idea!) and there are beautiful nativities everywhere. Tomorrow night we are going to one that is in a town near Gaeta and is a living nativity.

Christmas Eve the boys were so anxious for the next morning and opening presents. They were told they could not go downstairs until 7:30 am. By 6:00 am Rossie found his way into our bed where we somehow held him at bay until 7:30. We laid in bed and listened to the Christmas bells at a nearby church ringing out to welcome the Savior! Both boys were awake by about 4:00 but Santa is smart at this house and leaves their stockings in their beds for them to go through so everyone else gets a little more sleep.

Don't you just hate it when someone takes
your picture on Christmas morning?
I like this one it is nice and dark and blurry!

The other rule they have is the parents and grandparents get to be downstairs first and so we could watch them come down. It was pretty cute! They got more Legos than I have ever seen in one place and they played all day long..like 8 hours straight.

Spencer and Ross left Santa a letter.
Here Spencer is reading
Santa's computerized response
Geesh, everything has gone techno!

Some of the loot!

Warms a Gramma's heart!

We have a very nice breakfast and then just lounged around all day. We talked to our other kids and it was a perfect day! Jim's mom said it was the best Christmas she ever had! I am glad she is having so much fun!

So tomorrow, Presepe Viventi; Sunday, church and Laura and Robert's 12th anniversary and I am going to make them an apple pie! Monday we are leaving for our traveling up north to Pisa, Cinque Terra, Venice, Verona and a few other places. There are exciting times to look forward to every day around here! Christmas in Italy is very fun!

Buon Anno In Tuscany

What does one do to celebrate the New Year in Tuscany?
Ahhh, apparently not too much.

Pisa Night Life

Laura and I found ourselves at the laundermat on the base as the sun went down on the 31st, doing four gigantic loads of laundry. The funny part was it was so crowded in the large room we had to stand in line for the washers and the dryers. We made the comment that it seemed we all needed to 'get a life' and everyone had a good laugh over it.

Once we finally finished with the clothes we went home to our hotel rooms and made nachos for dinner. The rooms that we had had kitchenettes and that was perfect as we needed to cook most of the meals to avoid the soy and/or possible peanut contamination for Spencer. The problem we ran into was that the hot plates they use to have had been removed from the rooms, for some unknown reason and only microwaves were available.

So nachos it was and we all loved that, especially the kids. We ate dinner in their room and set up treats and games and movies in our room right next door, so we made a progressive New Year's Eve party out of it.

Not!

We had a fun time playing the new Uno Attack game that randomly spits cards at you and it was pretty funny and lots of fun too. We moved the clock up about three hours, toasted in the New Year with ginger ale, hugs and kisses and the boys were off to sleep at "midnight" as happy as clams.

Ginger Ale!
Cheers to the New as they say in Scotland!
Buon Anno Tutti, as they say here!

The adults stayed in our room for a few more hours and watched some movies set in Italy for the remainder of the evening. I don't think a single one of us was awake at midnight, in fact, I think the whole base was asleep. We did not hear a single group whooping it up, not a single fire cracker, no pot banging....nothing. It was perfect. We loved spending a quiet, simple evening on our four-generation, family vacation, get away!

Packing up~Saying good-bye to Camp Darby

We had a second good laugh the next morning thinking we truly did need to 'get a life!' We packed up and headed north in search of one! Next stop~Verona! Oh my goodness....the good life awaited us there! La Dolce Vita! Happy New Year, indeed! 2010 is looking good so far!

Happy New Year!

Hope yours will be great!