This Christmas Past

Better late than never. I'm finally getting around to editing Christmas photos and reflecting on our busy holiday season.

My kids love the classic Christmas shows that we have on DVD like Rudolph and Santa Claus is Coming to Town... those really old ones that, to me, without them it wouldn't really feel like Christmas... or would it? Just like what I wrote about Halloween a few posts back, over the past seven years here, I have seen a steady flow of influence from America. My first years here, I could not find a wreath for my front door. I complained over the lack of decoration and Christmas music streaming through the commerical centers. The town centers and piazzas have always had beautiful, glowing light displays, but it is just now that I can find fake Christmas trees that will reach the ceiling, versus the tabletop kind. Or, coordinating glass balls and ribbon and garland, stars, snowmen, and singing Santas. My first years here, besides a sparse strand of lights on a balcony, the only decoration adorning the outside of apartment buildings was the backside of a Santa climbing a rope ladder, looking as if he was about to rob gifts versus leaving them. Almost every house having the same Santa in various sizes.

Worse yet (and I hate to admit this), was the proportion of gift giving compared to that in America and my attitude about it. Not yet having kids, all of my magical Christmas energy went into planning my husband's and my own Christmas... with the in-laws. But, their idea of a Christmas gift was more like a pair of socks and a panatone, which is a sort of fruit cake, or maybe a scarf or hat. I admit disappointment and great waves of homesickness. Then, having kids didn't change the concept of gift-giving much at the beginning. My husband's idea was ONE gift from Babbo Natale, Father Christmas.

But, hey, that was not the Santa I grew up with, and so, for my daughter's first Christmas at 7 months old, she was bombarded with gifts, but played with the wrapping paper.

The following year, she was 19 months old and had a new 4 month old baby brother and a new 5 month old cousin, so the in-laws begun to have hope in the spirit of Christmas Future.



The subsequent year, the 2 1/2 year old and 16 month old siblings were terrified of the visiting Babbo Natale dressed in a felt suit and donning a pillow-belly, but grandma, Nonna, thought it was hilarious from under her cotton-ball beard.



An Italian Santa at the kids' school. Note the felt suit.





Last year, almost 8 months pregnant, I could have played Mary on her way to the inn in a living nativity.

...And so, each year gets grander and our VW Passat can barely hold the gifts we return home with, and the 3 carseats full of growing kiddos.

As the kids get bigger they expect more from Santa. And, as our family has grown and the price of airfare has gone up, this jet-setting mama can only think of how to spend the holly-jolly Christmas cash on plane tickets for the summer. Then, looking at our own Fisher-Price Nativity nestled between a fat Beanie Baby snowman and Dora's Christmas book, I find myself wanting to give up the deceit of Santa Claus and come clean. This year, at times, I really felt like we were hiding Jesus in amongst our wish lists and to-do lists.



 When my mother-in-law was growing up, she didn't have a Christmas tree. In Italy, the Christmas season has always been marked with the presepio, or nativity scene. Churches and businesses alike set them up, sometimes filling up a whole room, or with features such as animated characters. But, did you catch that? Public places, businesses, coffee bars, department stores... set up a baby Jesus... with his mama and earthly father, the shepherds, the wisemen, angels, and a whole town of common people going about their daily buisness. (My Fox and Friends buddies that I watch every afternoon might like to know about that... for you won't see the Italian news reporting the discord from those who celebrate Festivus and are offended by the sweet stable scene.)



I have brought my American Christmas to Italy. My mom sends packages, I play the traditional music, I recreate festive dishes, we read How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I introduce friends to strange American foods like marshmallows and candy canes, I send my husband out to ring sleigh bells on the balcony on Christmas Eve, just as I am tucking the kids into bed... and none of it has anything to do with the birth of our Lord.



So maybe... as I look out upon the bleak and wild landscape that surrounds us here in southern Italy, I actually can't imagine a place more Christmasy, despite the lack of yuletide glitz. Maybe my heart has been "two sizes too small." The buildings made of rubble, the rocky terrain, the olive groves, the shepherds minding the sheep, the big night sky out the living room window, all set the stage, for what I really need to teach my kids. My view from this little spot on the globe stretches through history and reinforces the reality, timelessness, and the ubiquity of our King's humble birth. As I see this day celebrated here in Italy, I am reminded of the Grinch's puzzled reaction to the Whos' song for Christmas.

'"It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!"..."Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps... means a little bit more!'

  I'm sure that isn't the first time that quote has been used to describe a deeper meaning of Christmas, but it fits how I should have felt from the beginning.

 We had a wonderful Christmas this year and it was exciting to celebrate it with the toddler-before-her-time baby, topping off our family.

Daddy's work Christmas party

As the years here in Italy are going by, I am finding that going to church with family on Christmas Eve or the holiday meal that Nonna makes, playing with cousins, or taking a simple walk together in town, and...well, of course, a well thought-out care package from home, is what I look forward to the most. I know I can't take away the magic of Santa from my three precious elves, but I can do my darndest to keep it all in proportion.