Italian Christmas

At age 24, I’m starting to become a little skeptical of this Santa character. Maybe he just didn’t get the address change, but I woke up Friday morning and searched my apt high and low not finding one single Christmas present. I was so confused…
There wasn’t much time to dwell on my conundrum because I had to shower down, get dressed up, and meet Roberto for Christmas mass. He brought me to his local church that his family attends fairly regularly. When I inquired about going to church the day before I asked him if it was catholic, he looked at me contemplating how dumb I really was and responded, “They are ALL catholic churches”. It was a full house and everyone was in their Sunday’s best. I didn’t understand much but it was really nice just being there. Plus you always have to make sure you are at church the two days that the Big Guy takes roll; Christmas and Easter.
When the ceremony ended I dropped Roberto back at his house and got ready for Christmas lunch. Sessa (Matteo Sessantini) invited me to share Christmas with his family and I was more than excited to accept. In Italy instead of having a dinner celebration they have a large lunch gathering. We drove over to his grandparents house where I was introduced to his parents, sister, grandparents, Aunt, Uncle, and his three cousins, and the dog Tango; My Italian family for Christmas!
The afternoon started off with appetizers and drinks. Then we moved into the dining room and had more appetizers and wine. A few more rounds of appetizers and a few more glasses of wine and we were finally ready for the main course, a beautifully cooked fish. Everything was amazing and by the end I was so full I couldn’t move. There were lots of questions for me and I was lucky because along with Sessa, two of his cousins spoke English very well. Everyone was so nice and I felt very lucky to be surrounded by these amazing people on this special day.
After the meal was finished his little 10 year old cousin popped out of the room and returned with an accordion almost the size of her. She busted it out of its box and set up some music and started playing some American Christmas songs. This was probably my favorite part of the night as everyone crowded around her and tried to sing along as she fought her way through the songs. While her playing wasn’t that smooth it made it all the better. If she would have played them perfectly I would have been very very impressed but the way she was struggling showed how hard she was trying. It was too precious.
The concert was amazing and now it was time for the games. The dining table was cleared and everyone sat down and we played a bunch of different Bergamasco card games. It was really fun and reminded me of something my own family would typically do after a holiday meal with all the cousins. By six O’clock I was drained. I was full and tired and very happy. It had been an amazing day with great people. My Italian Christmas.
-Bus #10