A Year in Italy: Moving to Italy: Christmas morning

On Christmas Eve George and I stuffed four of his socks with little gifts for the children and the usual mini-snacks: this time a tangerine, banana, and foil-wrapped soft cheese. When they were fully asleep we placed these stockings at the foot of their beds, following the tradition of my English family. The next morning we could hear them rummaging around in their stockings and knew that the toys and fruit and cheese would be enough to keep them from invading our early morning lie-in.

Christmas at Gabi was quiet, but with plenty of gifts for the children from my sister, my aunt, their grandparents, and us. Our gifts were modest, just a book each and a small toy—cars for the boys and puzzles for the twins. They were delighted with everything, as children of that age usually are. They were excited just with the act of opening the colorfully wrapped packages. We had spent much of the previous day helping my in-laws make ravioli for our Christmas dinner. Zio Silvio and Zio Remo joined us at the appointed time, around 1pm. We ate, we drank, and we sent good thoughts to those not with us.

We had tried to call my sister and her husband on Christmas Eve late in the afternoon. We had dressed the children warmly and driven to Montaldo along the back road. It was a dirt track that was fine during the dry summer, but since there was a fifty-foot drop on one side and a hillside on the other, it was dangerous in the fog. I was very nervous as we crept along, barely able to see the road in front of the car. When we got to the café/bar we entered the telephone booth and placed our call. The operator said that we would have to wait because the circuits were very busy. I had warned my sister we would call, and I knew she’d be expecting it. We waited for over two hours, sipping soft drinks and trying to keep the children happy, but we could not get through. At dinnertime, with the fog getting thicker, we cancelled the call. On Christmas Day we tried again after the family meal, with the same results. I was disappointed and I knew that she would be too, but we decided to try again at New Years.