CHRISTMAS IN ITALY

My dear friends,
I’m very glad to hear from you and I’m happy you had a good Christmas break.
I spent my Christmas holidays with Miss Andriulo. She lives in Oria, a beautiful medieval town near Mesagne. I was thrilled to see her house and to meet her family!
Before arriving in Oria I saw a big and wonderful building from a great distance. Miss Andriulo told me it was a medieval castle built by the German Emperor Frederic II. She added that unfortunately we couldn’t visit it because it is being restored at present. But she promised me she would buy a postcard so you can see how wonderful this castle is!
When we got her home I was surprised to see that she lives in a quite big house (a sitting room, three bedrooms, a hall, a small study, two bathrooms, a dining room, a kitchen, a laundry and a back garden full of plants, orange and lemon trees, roses). She told me that she had been very busy with her school work, so she had had no time to clean her house and to decorate it with Christmas decorations. I helped her, of course, and I’ve realized that it is not very good to have a big house because you never finish doing housework.
I also met her parents, her niece Carmen and her nephews Antonio and Lucio. Carmen is a young funny girl aged 5 who loves playing with me all the time.
On Christmas Eve night Miss Andriulo went to church with her family (they are all catholic) and when they came back home it was about midnight. She invited me to see how they celebrate Christmas in Italy: they lighted some candles, sang a Christmas song, said some prayers and then Carmen put the figurine of little Jesus in the nativity scene between Mary and St. Joseph. Finally they kissed and hugged each other wishing “Happy Christmas” and opened their Christmas presents. There were also two small parcels for me. When I opened them I was happy to find some chocolates and a new sweater. On Christmas morning we paid a visit to Miss Andriulo’s relatives and then we had lunch at home. We had ravioli (a kind of pasta filled with a mixture of mince meat and ham), gravy, steaks, green salad, fruit, cake and champagne. In the evening we went to see all the nativity scenes that had been arranged in the churches of the town.
The days before New Year’s Eve Miss Andriulo was very busy with the correction of her students’ works.
On New Year’s Eve (Italians call it “Capodanno or Notte di San Silvestro - St. Silvester’s night”) we went out to eat in a restaurant where we had some local dishes: zampone or cotechino (a kind of spiced Italian sausage) and lentils, pasta and seafood, gratiné mussels, lobster, green salad, chips, fruit and cake.
At midnight we hugged and kissed each other wishing a Happy New Year and went outside to look at the wonderful fireworks. They were cool!!!
Gosh! It’s 2009, my dear friends! I haven’t seen you for a year and I miss you a lot even though I do like Italy.
I hope your dreams come true this new Year!
Good Luck and be always in good mood
Love, Ted
P.S. I like Bea in that new coat. I think she is becoming prettier and prettier…mmm

My visit with Alicea

Hi, I get to go home with Alicea today! When we got to her house, I got to meet her family along with her 2 dogs. After I met everyone we headed to her room and listened to some music. The she practiced on her clarinet. Afterwards when she was done we watched a movie called "Horton Hears A Who?" After the movie, it was late so we decided to go to sleep. On Dec. 21st we went to the mall to go shopping (I like going to the mall and shop), we had to buy some presents for her parents. It took a long time to decide what to buy. Before we left there we stopped to get a smoothie (a drink that has crushed ice and fruit). They were delicious! When we got to her house we wrapped the presents and stuck them under the tree. On Dec. 23rd we made a video for her parents. It's a video of all the pictures she's downloaded to her computer then she added some music to go along with the pictures. She even took a picture of me and her with her camera and put it on the video! Dec. 25th, it is Christmas Day! Alicea woke up to tons of presents. She went to wake up everyone so they can open presents too. When they started to open presents Alicea let her parents open the present she got for them. It was a beautiful video of their pictures over the last year. After the presents were opened we went to her room and played with them. I got to play with Alicea and it was super fun!!! Then we went to visit all of her family. Dec. 31, We are going to Alicea's grandma's house to celebrate New Years. When it came time we counted down from ten to zero and once we got to zero it was a New Year!! Jan. 1, 2009, The New Year has started out great. Now Alicea and I can't wait to get back to school so I can tell everyone how it went.
I hope all of you had a great Christmas and a nice time off from school. What did you do during your holiday? Love, Bea

At Aidee's house

December 11
I went to Aidee's house and saw her Christmas tree, it was so beautiful it had many kids of decorations in it like blue spheres and ribbons. We went to the mall and bought Christmas presents for her family. The mall was big (it has a lot of stores) and full of decorations. I got to meet her brother Christian (he's a trouble maker), and I saw her 9 month old sisters, she's cute. But I barely got to meet her because she was asleep most of the time. She woke up and she had me up and down and never let go of me, she loved me very much. And every time she saw me she crawled to me really fast. She was a really funny little girl.
December 13
We went to Aidee's grandmother's house because it was her uncle's birthday. It was really loud there and they all spoke Spanish but then we went back to her house and saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" movie, when it was over it was time to sleep.
December 14
Today we went to the movies and we saw "Twilight" it was a good movie. Aidee liked it a lot and when it was finished it was snowing outside and was really cold and windy. We went to eat Chinese food, the food smelled really, really good and there was a lot of people there too.
I miss all of you, Love you, Bea

My new coat and the snow

Hello my friends in Italy!!

Before we left school for Christmas break I received my coat from you! Thank you for the gift, I needed it that day because it snowed here. I went outside and had my picture taken in the snow, it was very cold and wet. Snow is very pretty to look at (from inside where it is warm), and it was fun to play in. I went home with Alicea for the holiday break and will write to you about my adventures at her house and show you the pictures from her house. I have had a great time here and am thinking of staying here a little longer so I can see the spring time and write to you some more. Everyone likes to have me stay at their house and visit with them. I hope you enjoy the pictures of me in my coat and playing in the snow.
I love you all, Bea