Seeing as how the Osberg family isn’t a Catholic one, the
only Santa that we Osberg girls knew about was the storied Mr Claus who made it
to Lawson Ave every Christmas to spoil us with gifts and eat butter tarts.
Hendrik, on the other hand, has already been visited by another Santa – Santa
Lucia, the patron saint of the blind. On the eve of December 13th,
she’s said to leave gifts and treats for children, and is accompanied by a donkey and
her escort/helper Castaldo. And so, when we got wind of the fact that she was
going to be visiting Vela, (our very town!) we planned to bundle up and head to
the small piazza to greet her. However, after a long near-no-nap day for the
little muffintop, I decided that bedtime was a higher priority than a visit
from Santa Lucia herself. So when the doorbell rang at 7:50 I had to wonder who
on earth it was! It was our most amazing neighbors paying a visit and bringing
treats and goodies for Hendrik; “solo manca il asino!” (the only thing missing
is the donkey!) said Antonella on her way up the stairs with her two daughters,
Elena and Daniela in tow. (Why didn’t I get a picture of them, with Hendrik,
with his goodies?!) Hendrik was such a cutie-pie with his gifts this morning,
and though he’s not aware of where they came from, we sure are. Our neighbors
are such thoughtful people, and I continually wish there was something that we
could give them in return for all of their kindness.
with his goodie bag this morning
and wearing his new onesie today!
They had me and Hendrik
over for lunch on Sunday, and I got to feast on a few typical Italian dishes including
polenta (a regional specialty) and pandoro (ah-mazing). Luciano had a fancy
contraption going downstairs – an electric mix-it thing that stirred the
polenta while it was cooking on the stove. I’ve had polenta a few times at home
and never really found it all that appetizing, but this was sooooooo so good;
hearty but not overbearing and as tasty as can be - yum. Hendrik enjoyed his
food just as much as the rest of us did, and stayed at the table long enough to
eat polenta, beef, peas, pandoro, an apple, a mandarin orange and some more
pandoro. Ouf! We made the short walk (/waddle) from their front door to ours
around 4:00 procession-style, with Luciano carrying a small Christmas tree,
Elena carrying Hendrik’s toys and Antonella carrying hmm, what was she
carrying? Anyways, it was a fabulous afternoon – great food and the closest
thing to family that we have here in Italy… love it. Plus, we now have a
Christmas tree! We haven’t been feeling very Christmas-y, even though the big
day is less than two weeks away. Hopefully that changes – a tree, some company,
goodies and festive drinks will surely do the trick.
Antonella and polenta!
my eater :)
So, speaking of company, this is what we’ve got going on:
national team assistant coaching Vincent P is coming for a few days to catch
Sunday’s Trento-Cuneo game, in which two of his Canadian players will be
(hopefully) participating – Steve and Toon Van Lankvelt. The top two teams in
the league will battle it out, and with a 5:30 start, even Hendrik and I will
be able to watch! And then on Monday my sister Sarah arrives and I am SO
excited about it! I’m sure we’ll have a good balance of do-nothing days and
tourist go-go days too. And baking days! And Christmas-ize the house business
too. Steve’s parents arrive on the 27th and it will make the holidays
all the better with so much family to fill our house.
love this!
"dirt" is among his new words and he LOVES flowers!
starting early these days (and we're hardly ever on the phone - !!)
I feel like I could go on and on with this blog, but I won’t
BUT... I do have to add: Hendrik has been walking way more, we’ve been going to
the play centre every Friday (and we are both still loving it), I’ve been
practicing with a volleyball team and it’s been fun, and Hendrik, with his
incoming teeth, has been struggling with solid nights of sleep (and so have I).
And for now, since it’s closing in on 11:30, that is all.
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