|
Tuesday the 24th - Christmas EveThe next morning, rather afternoon, we awoke and mom needed to head to the military post at Vicenza to see if her packages had arrived.
Mom ordered all her presents from Amazon.com this year. But they still hadn't arrived. So she was in a frenzy since we were going to Tiziano's to have dinner with the family.
And she was disappointed to find they still had not arrived. So we went to get some groceries. While they we ran into a co-worker of mom's, Trudy, but I didn't see anyone I knew. Chatted with her husband and then went driving around a wee bit before heading over to Tiziano's.
We arrived around 7pm which is still a wee bit early for dinner, but people were starting to gather. By eight, everyone was there and the food was served. It was exquisitely made by Loretta, Tiziano's sister, and Tatiana, Loretta's daughter. I re-learned that it was also Signore's 80th birthday! So it was a grand cause for celebration.
The food was spectacular with some turkey (provided by mom and not a normal Christmas-time food for Italians), and an assortment of beautiful appetizers and primi e secondi! I wish I wrote down what all was there, but I spent most of my time taking pictures of people.
That's one of the probs I noticed with having a camera. It's so much fun, sometimes I forget to pay close attention to what's happening! Ah well...
Any case, the food left wonderful, tasty Italian memories for me. Then Babbo Natale arrived in the form of Kiki (Signore's boyfriend) Jean-Marco (Tiziano's brother's son). And the present opening began. Course, I didn't get (nor expected) much. But there was a nice shirt and bottle of Lemonella in it. Lemonella sorta tastes like alcoholic Lemonheads. Didn't care for it much myself. Ah well.
I got some great photos of Signore and Kiki especially once we started playing music together. I played a few Irish songs. And then Signore and Kiki began the Italian folk music show, taking breaks in between to teach me a little Veneto dialect modi da dire/"sayings".
My favorite dialect phrase is something like "I ga iga igai". I think that's how it's written. It means. "Hanno legato i polli", or in English, "They beheaded the chickens". hehe!
Well before I knew it it was midnight and we had to go. This was the first time in my life that I was able to feel totally comfortable chatting in Italian and able to follow the conversation. And it was way to short an evening!
Home we went and once more I went through the photos for the day. Christmas DayOnce again, it was about 11am when I awoke to the sounds of cooking below. My mom lives in barn that was converted into a house. And the distance between my room and the kitchen is just a few inches. Mom said there was even a hole in the floor to look down at the kitchen below, but I never got around to looking at that.
Dinner was served with a lovely display and then Mom, Tiziano and I went driving around the Colli Berici ("colli" are "hills"). Up one side and down the other. Then away we drove taking pictures of the incredible hillside. Exquisite villas. Fog and clouds. Italian trees, fields and old stucco houses. Ah Italia!
We then drove over to a previously planned late lunch at Trudy's. We sat and chatted for a while. And oddly, it seemed more difficult chatting there in English than it was chatting in Italian at Tiziano's. So after a while, I went into the other room where the kids were watching their new present, "Lilo & Stitch" on DVD. Tiziano who was also having trouble following mom's American co-workers came in with me and we chatted a wee bit.
Then home we went. By day's end, all were exhausted. I worked on some photos and then I went to watch TV a wee bit. My ever-favorite, "It's a Wonderful Life" was on. And Tiziano had never seen an American version. In Italy, they translate EVERYTHING. No subtitled movies. Consequently, you miss out on the great vocal inflections of Jimmy Stewart. But neither he nor I could stay awake. So I went off to bed.
Posted by Marc Gunn on Tuesday, January 07, 2003 |
link to it
latest | archives > >
Well
if you have any questions, I'd be happy
to answer those as well.
|
|
Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers
