Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Christmas in Italy


Some of you know that Brett and I have decided to spend our first Christmas out of the United States. Back when we first met, we went to Germany together for the week leading up to Christmas, but then flew back in a flurry to make it to Duluth for the big day. Which means we spent about $2000 to travel abroad for 5 days.

This might give you a sense of how closely I associate Christmas with home.

Still, this year the time is right to try Christmas in a new kind of winter wonderland. We've rented an apartment in Venice until Christmas day, and then we are heading for a farm outside Lake Bled, Slovenia for the rest of the vacation. Priorities include walking over the Bridge of Sighs, eating Gelato, sledding on the "sled run" at our farm, and making our own new Christmas traditions.

I was pleased to see on a fellow traveler's blog today that one of the traditions in Italy is elaborate nativity scenes, reminding me of the one my mom has been adding to for many years. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to see just how many directions those scenes sometimes go in - the picture above, for example, is from a nativity set store in Napoli. You can see more photos and read about Italian nativity sets, like I did, on Ms. Adventures in Italy.

Perhaps one of our new traditions will be a nativity set of our own, and we'll choose our first piece in two months as we wander the winter streets of Venice.

2 comments:

Tanya said...

We'll miss you on New Year's Eve! Who will make sure I don't burn the pesto pizzas?

Betsy said...

We'll miss you back, Tanya! I wish it was a bit easier to come by and hang out for an evening on the porch to catch up and pet a couple of certain adorable cats.