Part 2: Natale!!!!

After a long night of celebrating, we woke up to a lazy morning...a really lazy morning. As a matter of fact, we didn't really do anything at all. It was nice for a change since we have been staying up until the wee hours of the morning practically every single day this week. My host sister and my host father left at about 11 to go to a bar to eat breakfast. When they returned, all of us got ready to leave for lunch at my host mother's aunt's house. During this time, we also opened our presents. From my family, I received two longsleeve, turtleneck sweaters. They are deep purple and turquoise...two of my favorite colors to wear. Sidenote on fashion: the color of the year is purple. Everything is purple, and I mean everything! There are purple shoes, purple pants, purple belts, purple shirts, purple jackets, purple hats....you get the idea. There is purple everywhere. It is like Harold went a little too far with his crayon in every single clothing factory in Europe. Literally. Anyway, I also got a hanging doll thing from my Italian teacher at school. It is sweet. It says "amore" on it. Amore means love in Italian. My Intercultura Italian teacher/assistant gave me a cami to wear. Before heading off to lunch, my host parents got into a fight about something or other. Then, it evolved into an argument over where we were going to eat. My father had found out that my mother's father was not going to be coming to her aunts house. He insisted that we had to go there. In the end, we did end up eating lunch with my mother's father. He is bedridden, so it was a nice surprise for him. We had a lunch of the same crepe dish from the night before, insalata, sausages, and antipasti (cheese, salami, bread). For dessert, there was pandoro (the cake from Verona) and panettone...English style. The man who helps my mother's father lived in England. After we had finished eating and visiting with Roberta's father, we headed to Maurizio's nephew's house. There, we visited and watched tv. It was an interesting little interlude during the day. After we finished there, we headed to Milazzo to go bowling. Yes....bowling. Italian's pronounce it like "booling", so when the said that that was what we were doing, I didn't understand at all. We ended up bowling with twins from Agnese's class and their family. It was fun. I only bowled one game....it was pretty dismal. My head wasn't quite in it though. Yesterday was truly the only day that I have felt homesick. I hadn't realized how important spending Christmas with my family was to me. Plus, bowling is one of my family's Christmas traditions. It was kind of a difficult day. After the other's had bowled a second game, the men of the group decided that they wanted to play pool. As it turns out, they played three games. Three!!! It was pretty late by the time we left that place. For dinner, we all drove to a pizzera in Rometta, a city near Milazzo. We ended up eating at about 10:30. I wasn't that hungry because of all the food we have been eating, so thankfully, they had mini pizzas. They were named after Disney characters. I had "Topolino" a.k.a "Mickey Mouse". It was a basic little pizza with mozzerella. We left a little while after eating and came home. I immediately went to sleep. Staying up so late, so many nights in a row, takes its toll on me.

That was Christmas!!! Today, many people are still celebrating because there is a Catholic holiday of San Stephano....I think that was his name. We, thank goodness, are not. Celebrating is equivalent to more food and eating. Today is a day of recuperating. :) I will keep updating. I hope everyone is well and had a wonderful Christmas, or other holiday that is celebrated around this time.

Ciao!!! Rebecca