In Italy, Celebrating Christmas

In Italy, celebrating Christmas has many meanings. No matter where you are in Italy, celebrating Christmas equates to being with the family, going to mass, exchanging gifts, seeing friends, eating and drinking.... a lot.

The backdrop is always the same in every household on Christmas day. The fireplace and Christmas tree are lit. There are opened gifts scattered all around. There is every type of food and drink available in all corners of the house. It is a lazy day that begins with opening gifts and eating a traditional Christmas "dolce" like torrone or panettone. Then you get very dressed up and go to mass at the local Church(if you don't go to midnight mass) and then stick around after mass to see and talk to all your friends.

In Italy, celebrating Christmas revolves around the meal. Some families have their Christmas meal in the afternoon as a lunch while others have their meal late in the evening as a dinner. One thing is for sure that there will be every type of food, drink, sweet imaginable. Often times huge big baskets of food are exchanged as gifts and these end up on the Christmas table....prosciutto, coppa, salami, pecorino fresco (fresh), pecorino stagionato (aged), etc etc.

After lunch or dinner comes dessert with the panettone in all its varieties ...chocolate, fruit, glazed, not glazed, with nuts, without nuts, vanilla flavor, lemon flavor, etc.

After the meal and dessert comes coffee and then the digestivo (digestive) which is usually grappa or limoncello. For those with weaker stomachs, chamomile tea is usually suitable!

To top off things in Italy, celebrating Christmas means a game at cards called tombola which is the typical Christmas game. Not sure why but it is only played this time of year.

Lastly, one hopes that celebrating Christmas means something special to Italians and that when everything is said and done and eaten, this holiday means being thankful and observant of their religion and Savior. Buon Natale.

Those Long Lunches in Italy

Something has to be said about lunches in Italy. They are long....but good! We had a great day yesterday having lunch at a farmhouse in the hills surrounding Chiusi and Cetona. The occasion was the baptism party of a baby boy named Luca. After the mass, which of course, we were late to, we were to meet the entire party at the restaurant within a beautiful farmhouse called Larco Naturale (www.arco-naturale.com). You can see the pictures. The place is really nice and the owners Luigi and Enzo have taken time to make every rustic detail appropriate to their surroundings.

We had a wonderful lunch which began with an appetizer of prosciutto, coppa secca, mozzarella wraps and crostini (bread with toppings). Next two pasta dishes of ravioli topped with cherry tomotoes and tagliatelle (wide pasta) with a tomato sauce. After this was the secondo or meat dish of veal and roasted potatoes. Then the cake, spumanti, coffee, grappa and limoncello. Don't forget all the wine!! A wonderful meal.

The children spent most of the day outside playing with the puppies, cats and rolling around in the grass! There were walks in between the meals for easy digestion. Suffice to say we arrived at 1 pm for lunch and left at 5 pm!! A fantastic Sunday outside with marvelous warm weather taking in all that Italy has to offer!