Buon Natale!

For anyone who didn't realize it, Buon Natale is Merry Christmas in Italian! I didn't expect there to be many differences between Christmas in the US and Christmas in Italy after everyone described the traditions to me, but I. Was. Wrong. I'm not very sure if it was only in my family or if it was an Italian "norm," but other than spending the day with family it was kind of like a normal day. I myself am confused so bare with me.

Let's begin with Christmas Eve. At around 9 pm we went to their grandmothers house for Christmas Eve dinner with some of the family. One of the major differences between the food on Christmas Eve and Christmas is that they eat a lot of seafood. For Christmas Eve we ate bruschetta, calamari, pasta with calamari, salad, fish, and pandoro(a sweet bread covered in powdered sugar). I'm missing a few things but you get the gist. At 11:30 we went to the church and attended the midnight mass. We were late so we were in a separate room and couldn't see the service very well. The mass ended at 1 am and that's when it started. The kissing. I have never kissed so many cheeks in my entire life. Complete strangers came up to me and kissed me. It was strange at first but after a while I found myself going up to people and kissing them. When the kissing stopped we went to The Garden, the bar we go to everyday. There the kissing started again. It was strange to be out with friends on Christmas but it was really nice. I still think it was crazy we didn't return home until 3am!

Christmas morning I woke up at about 10:30, went downstairs, and ate breakfast with Velia. While eating Velia gave me my gift from the family, a cute elephant necklace. But this is where I got confused. There were no presents under the tree, and I did not see my siblings receive any presents, but I think they were given money? I'll clarify once I know more. After breakfast I relaxed a bit and then got dressed. We were having Christmas lunch at our house and it is a very big deal. They began to prepare the food two days prior to Christmas. We started eating at 1 and didn't stop until 5 or 6. The courses were: antipasto, risotto, pasta, salad, meat, fruit and nuts, and finally dessert. I've never eaten so much in my life. After taking a little nap I went downstairs to find a completely new group of family members I've never met. Italian family are very large, especially compared to my fairly small family. At around 10 Laura, Velia, and I went to The Garden again and came home around two. I was exhausted and the next morning I slept until 1 pm!

I was kind of thankful that this Christmas was so different then mine because honestly I'm kind of in denial that I missed Christmas with my family. This was one of the best Christmases I've ever had, but I think every exchange student will agree that there is nothing better than Christmas in their home country. 🎄
Arrivederci!