Christmas Is Upon Us!

Today is the perfect week-before-Christmas day! We woke up to snow falling, and it has blanketed Bologna is white. Somehow snow makes the constant overcast skies a little more bearable! It is beautiful!

Cody and the kids left a little early this morning for their walk to school so they would have some time to play in our winter wonderland. They had the best time making little snowballs, running in the white, and giggling to keep warm. It was contagious! As the elderly Italians would pass them, they said, "Che bella sorpresa questa mattina! (A beautiful surprise this morning!)" It is only the second time our kids have ever seen snow, so they still just get tickled at the wonder of it.

Christmas begins for us in three days when my (Jen) parents and brother arrive for the holidays. We are so anxious to have family with us! So we've been busy with all our little Christmas preparations. We'll spend Christmas day in Bologna and then head up to Salzburg, Austria for a week. It is only about five hours away, and again, promises more snow! We all can not wait for our week of PLAY!

December 8 marks the beginning of Christmas celebrations for Italians, so there are now a plethora of markets and festivals going on. Last weekend there was a little market right across the street, so we took the kids to see Babbo Natale (Santa Claus). Bless him, but he was the worst Santa Cody or I had ever laid eyes on! The kids first question: "Mom, does he speak English?" And then their first response upon seeing him: "That's not the real Santa, you can see the string that's holding his beard on!" Just as we were about to say "Ciao" to Babbo Natale, he had to make a quick exit because his pants fell off. Oh Mamma Mia! After some quick explaining ("Santa has to have a lot of helpers during Christmas since he can't be everywhere all over the world at once"), the kids were quickly satisfied when Santa gave them both presents.

Also at the market were booths with great food. We picked up some cinnamon-roasted almonds (an Italian Christmas tradition), some spicy salami and some bread for dinner. What we had to say no to were the blocks of this fudge-type candy that lined a couple of the booths. We did try a few samples though. More than anything, I was just impressed with how fun and festive they looked all lined up!

We hope this finds everyone enjoying a truly blessed Christmas season! We are overwhelmed with the truth of God's love poured out for us in Him sending His Son to be born in our midst. He has changed our lives.