The Forgotten

My kids forgot that yesterday was Mother’s Day (and my husband too!). So I didn’t get any card, any breakfast in bed, anything at all! My son was immersed in his GCSEss revision and my daughter was so worried about her important cup football match that thought it was next week. Anyway, at lunchtime I was feeling very low. It’s not the present that counts, I know, but I didn’t even have that, the “thought”. Something must have clicked in my daughter’s mind as she hid a little box under my plate with a small rushed “happy mother’s day” note. She found an old bracelet of mine somewhere around the house and an even older gift box, packed all together and improvised a little present. I felt better realizing that at least she was trying to cheer me up. Unfortunately a couple of hours later I found out that the little rascal conned £5 out of her own brother for sharing the cost of “mummy’s present”. O my sweet little “angel”!!!!!

40 but we don't show it!!!!

My “bestest” friend Giusy and I have known each other for 40 years today!!!! We were two little shy girls in reception class when we met and now we are almost old ladies but still young at heart. I’ve been so lucky to meet her and have her as a friend for all these years! Although we live in two different countries we couldn’t be closer. She’s always been there for me and I know she always will. We laugh so much together and have so many things in common that’s almost incredible! Together we’ve become so famous that we’ve even made it on the cover of Vogue!!!

My daughter's big day

Last Saturday was my daughter’s big day. No, she didn’t get married, she is only nine! And she didn’t have any important exam, performance, football match or similar. It was the day of her First Holy Communion. For non-Catholics – probably most of you, my dear friends – this is the colloquial name for a person's first reception of the sacrament of the Eucharist. It is a very important event for an Italian child (and for adults too), as the Eucharist is one of the central focuses of the Roman Catholic Church. My daughter had been preparing for this moment since September and she was very excited. We had friends over from Italy (although unfortunately my parents couldn’t make it) and after the ceremony we went to a lovely pub-restaurant (owned by friends of ours) in the Yorkshire Wolds and had a fantastic meal. The weather was sunny and warm and we couldn’t have been luckier.

Bless to me, O Lord,

The work of my hands.

Bless to me, O God,

The work of my mind.

Bless to me, O God,

The work of my heart.

Happy New Year!

From the fabulous George ....

...And from me to you.... Felice Anno Nuovo!

Granddad is 75

My dad's birthday was actually on 20th December but my parents arrived from Italy late at night so we could not celebrate. And next day he was ill so we had to postpone until yesterday when he felt better. My dad is a special person and the only man in the world I really trust 100%. He had some tough time in his life and we almost lost him four years ago when he had a massive heart attack. But he is a tough fighter and he keeps on going on with his pacemaker, always helping people and cheering us up with his jokes and good words.

Here is my dad with his proud grandchildren ….and his delicious cake made by my friend Lesley….

And here is grandma as well.

We had a little party with just the six of us but we had a serene and happy time together. It is so nice to be all together again! It is really like Christmas :))))

St Lucy's Day

St. Lucia is the patron saint of the city of Syracuse (Sicily) where she was born and martyred in the reign of Diocletian. One story says that when a suitor admired her beautiful eyes she cut them out and sent them to him, asking to be left in peace thereafter (like most early Christian virgin martyrs, she refused marriage). Now she is the patron of eye diseases and the blind and is often depicted carrying her eyeballs on a plate.

The main celebration occurs today 13th of December and in May. St. Lucy is also popular among children in some regions of North-Eastern Italy, namely Trentino, East Lombardy and some parts of Veneto and Friuli, where she brings gifts to good children and coal to bad ones. Children are asked to leave some food for Lucia (a sandwich, or anything else available at the moment) and for the flying donkey that helps her carry gifts (flour, sugar, or salt), but they must not see Santa Lucia delivering gifts or she will throw ashes in their eyes, temporarily blinding them.

St Lucy’s Day in Italy is celebrated with torchlight processions and bonfires, clear indications of her role as light bringer. Apparently untroubled by the gruesome imagery, we eat St. Lucy’s eyes, cakes or biscotti shaped like eyeballs. In honor of a miracle performed by St Lucy during a famine in 1582 (she made a flotilla of grain-bearing ships appear in the harbor — the people were so hungry they boiled and ate the grain without grinding it into flour), Sicilians don't eat anything made with wheat flour on her day. Instead they eat potatoes or rice in the form of “arancine”, golden croquettes shaped and fried to the color of oranges and filled with chopped meats. In Palermo, everyone eats “cuccia”, a dessert of whole-wheat berries cooked in water, then mixed with sweet ricotta.