Buon Natale America!

So its almost that time! Christmas time.  As most of you already know, this is not one of my favorite holidays.  Lots of fuss and nonsense.  But this year, I am actually extremely excited and extremely sad about Christmas. I am sad because this will be my first Christmas that I am not spending with my family.  My first Christmas in 23 years. WOW! I know that I always get a little stressed by trying to fit in all the different places that I travel on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but Christmas is just not going to be the same without my family with me.  Which brings me to why I am excited about this Christmas.  I have adopted a family of my own since I have been here: my roommates and friends.  This year, I am going to spend Christmas with them!!! I am really excited about this!!! I get to experience an actual Italian Christmas! 

This is what I have learned so far about Christmas in Italy:

-Children leave a "window" open for Santa in Italy since a lot of children live in the city and don't have a chimney

-Santa's name is Babo Natale

-Christmas Eve is a feast of fish 

-Christmas day everyone eats meat (I am already in trouble)

-You get together with your friends and play cards on Christmas

I am sure there will be more to come after I spend the next three weeks in Le Marche, the region where my roommates live. Here is a map so you can see where I will be (for those of you who care).

So when Kelly came, she secretly brought me 8 shirts from Abercrombie & Fitch for my roommates. I gave them the shirts the other night because my roommate Romina was leaving for Toronto, so we had Christmas early.  Let me just say they went NUTS!  Before I gave them the shirts, Maried, Romina and I spent about a half an hour trying to decide who was going to get what shirt.  Not that hard you say? False.  These are Italian men I am dealing with. They are very particular about their clothing. And we wouldn't DARE give someone the wrong size in fear that they get offended. MY GOD!  For example, Enrico always wears green but there was only a medium or a large, but these were American sizes so would they fit diferenetly.  And then Panah obviously gets the large because he is the tallest but what size does Max get?  I never see him without a jacket on so how would I know! In summary this was stressful.  But after they opened their gifts they all HAD to put on the shirts and we did it! We guessed perfectly and everyone was so happy!!!!! BUON LAVORO SQUADRA!!!!!! (good work team) BUON NATALE!

Some of the boys sporting their shirts (from left: Massie, Augusto, Fabio, Enrico)

My little Italian Family!!!! (front: me, Augusto, Enrico, Massie. Top: Panah, Enrico, Rodolfo, Romina, Fabio, Stefano)