There have been a million things that have happened since the last blog post and there's no way, if I hope to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight, to mention even a fraction of everything. To make a long story short, I returned from Italy just before Christmas, enjoyed a few days of pre-Christmas jet lag and Christmas light gawking (homes in Italy might have a couple of Christmas decorations, nothing like it is in the States). I did get to see the huge Gubbio Christmas tree in all of its splendor before leaving Italy, that was pretty cool and I have yet to see a picture that does the sight justice.
The last three to four weeks in Italy were difficult emotionally. I was missing home (my US home and family) a lot, but those emotions were mixed in with the impending melancholy of leaving the new "family" and friends who had become very much a part of my life while still trying to enjoy every last moment there. It's impossible to describe, and there were definitely good times during that period, but it allowed me to see a new side of myself and look at everyone in my life in a different light.
Christmas was wonderful and fun...Christmas eve was celebrated by eating cannoli first thing in the morning and attending evening mass. Being able to celebrate Christmas with my family almost altogether was wonderful, it was a huge table filled with great food--and much of the food had been brought over from Italy. We even had a Christmas prosciutto which was a particularly special gift...that was the first time for the family to have a ham adorn the table. The day after Christmas, I was greeted by a full-on cold that kept me from doing anything for a few more days. Then I tried squeezing in all of the visiting I could (I missed people I really wish I hadn't and I feel bad about that), but it was all of the time that I had and it was time to pack and begin 2011 in a whole new way. Stories from Boston, yes BOSTON! will be here shortly.
What's most interesting about this is I can draw many parallels to moving out here (since I don't know much about it) to when I arrived in Italy. And, when there's more time, maybe I'll expound on that a bit more. Time to finally get back to speaking Italian.
Cheers to a happy, healthy and successful 2011 for all!
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