What a fantastic holiday season. I can't believe that it's already almost over! As most of you know, Jillian and I decided to remain here in Italy for the holidays - after all we've only been here for 4 months now! Not to mention the frightening flight fees. :) I was excited, mostly, to be spending my first Christmas in Italy. Very, very different than my normal holiday routine being surrounded by family and friends and food. Okay, there was still the food. And friends....and family in a way.
Having decided to keep our English lessons going as long as our students were still able to come, Jillian and I ended up just taking the one week of Christmas and New Years off. We thought that my parents being in the States would cause things to slow down around here, but no! :) I still had a full class schedule (other than the week of vacation), and on top of that we were flooded with the invitations of friends.
For Christmas day, Rosa took us under her wing and invited us to spend Christmas lunch at her house with her whole family. She is a wonderful lady - she is so good at demonstrating that she loves us and the Bible School. She works hard and is a very generous person. In typical Italian style, there was course after course after course. We arrived a little earlier than her family, so we got to help her with the finishing touches on some of the appetizers. There were salmon crostini, sausage and cheese crostini, candied figs with cream cheese and walnuts, liver pate (delicious), vol-au-vents - a type of little pastry with cream cheese, chives, and ham, and she also mixed up some of her own personal stash of ranch dressing that she had brought from the States.
And those were just the appetizers! The next course nearly brought tears to my eyes...and I will admit they did cloud up. She brought out the primo, and she had made my favorite Rosa pasta - tuna and lemon. She had made the noodles from scratch, and then for HER family's Christmas lunch she made my favorite pasta. I attempted to thank her by eating a sinful amount.
For the second course she had prepared baby goat. Dubious at first, I was soon brought around to the idea after tasting the meat. It was delicious! A little stronger than meat that I'm used to eating, but it fit very well for a holiday meat. She served it with roasted potatoes. The Italians aren't usually big dessert people - this was probably one of the biggest differences between my American and Italian Christmas feasts :), but Angela, Rosa's daughter made the most delicious apple cake I've ever had in Italy....and possibly in America. I had also brought caramel corn, as a gift, and that was a big hit. Especially with all the women! :) They were all so welcoming and made sure they included us in their conversations, and were attentive when we didn't understand something. Five hours of hosting Americans, and they were still so wonderful.
The next day we went to Paola's house for lunch. We received the same hospitality and welcome at her house also. She is one of the cooks at the Harding Villa, and I have known her for about five years now. Yet she always amazes me with her generosity. She is one of the sweetest, most thoughtful people I know. On Sunday, Mario from the Florence congregation invited Jill and I, and also a university student named Redi and a member of the church named Mathilde to a seafood restaurant that is owned by one of his long-time friends - and also where he is somewhat of a VIP. :) Mario is just an incredible person. i believe he is in his 70s, but he is still actively involved and supportive of the Florence church. He also loves young people and is always ready to take care of them and welcome them. A couple of days later, one of my students, Veronica, invited us over to have dinner with her family. Her brother Samuele is one of Dad's students. They are both wonderful people, and their parents were as well - no surprise there. We had a great dinner and time with them. Veronica works at the Uffizzi museum as a tour guide in English and French (my hero :) ), and she is also a part time teacher of Art History. I really enjoy spending time with her at lessons, but it was really nice to be able to spend time with her outside of the School.
We were so occupied that I hardly had time to be homesick at all - only on Christmas day and during a family reunion that I missed did I really feel it. So after being continuously showered by blessings and kindness by our friends and family here in Italy, we have taken the last few days just to stay at home and relax. There has been serious movie-watching time - we had an all night movie marathon on New Years Eve - and I have been able to read three books! We are ready for mom and dad to get home, and we are replenished and ready to start up lessons again on Monday. Happy Holidays to all of you there in America! Love, miss, and God bless you all!
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