Carnevale!

I never expected that I would get to participate in Carnevale, yet here were are in Italy and we did get to experience Carnevale! We found out that the town just over from ours hosts one of the bigger celebrations in Italy! It's very Italian in that it is all done in a chaotic sort of way that Italians are completely at home with. On Sunday we headed over withthe kids. The website says things will start at 3:00 and we found out that's when they close the road. Things weren't even set up. "Things" got started after 5:30. What we thought was going to be a parade was more of a static parade. We didn't clue in right away so we didn't actually go and see all the other sections of the "parade". It was cold and late and it seems that Carnevale can really drain one's energy - especially when it's at the volume Italians like! However we all had a great time and we did learn why one should eat cotton candy AFTER throwing confetti and not before.

Carnevale is HUGE in Italy! OK, so not all of Italy is like Venice - or even close to Venice, but it is still BIG! This area seems to really cater to the kids. I've never seen so many costumes in my life. It is nothing for Italian to drop $100 or more on a costume for a young child! Kyle's school had a pre Carnevale celebration where the parents brought in typical foods for this time of year from their countries to share with the other parents (yes I made Pancakes!). Then they had a Carnevale day with the kids in costume (that's when they get their school pictures done) complete with a festa (party). Then they get Shrove/Fat/Pancake Tuesday off. That's when a few of the parents and I got together and took our kids to Villa Literno for another day of Carnevale celebrations.

Shrove Tuesday proved to be louder and more crowded in Villa Literno. Yet, the kids and the parents had a great time! However, I think the parents may have enjoyed themselves slightly more than the kids as many of them had to instruct their children on the proper use of silly string and just how to throw confetti with the right technique. I was left wondering if the kids that were hesitant were scared silly string or scared of their parents' behavior with silly string.

I had a fantastic time taking pictures of all the costumes. The first slideshow is of Sunday's Carnevale celebration in Villa Literno with Brian, the kids and myself. The second slideshow is of Carnevale at Kyle's school and then the group of friends in Villa Literno on Shrove Tuesday (and a few extraneous little Italians in costumes).

Feel free to leave a comment and vote for your favourite costumes!

A few more things from Christmas

Finally, it's February and I'm finishing up posts from Christmas!

Before we went on our trip back tot he states the kids enjoyed Playmobil Advent Calendars. Of course all kids get excited about opening the little door each day, but I think it's fair to say we all got excited to take a small box off the calendar and place it in the scene we were building. Kyle had a pirate themed calendar and Vika's was an outdoor animal/wilderness theme. These were fantastic and the kids are still enjoying them!

Probably Kyle's very favourite gift he received for Christmas was his fireman's suit. He received this from Ami and Papa when we were celebrating Christmas with Brian's family, including his brother, his wife and their 5 children. Kyle and Pierce are only days apart in age and it was fitting that Pierce received a policeman's uniform. They were so cute playing resuce for hours that day! Kyle wears his suit almost daily! While we were still in the States Kyle wore it out for several outings with Papa. Papa even had to introduce the "visiting Italian fire chief" to the local fire department, and the police department a couple of days later! They also went and walked the boardwalk - which is somehting the two of them have always enjoyed doing together.

When we returned to Italy, it was all but forgotten that Santa had written in his Christmas note that he had left a few things at our place in Italy. (Santa sure knows haow to save a family from hauling stuff halfway aroudn the world!) The kids were thrilled with the surprise of finding more gifts! Kyle found a great start to his Lego collection and Vika instantly took a liking to her pink Pegasus!

The Great Christmas Chaos

There are only three "real" kids in my family; Zach, Kyle and Vika, and then several people who are kids simply because they never grew up (and that's a good thing!). Sometimes I wonder just how Christmas gets so out of hand in such a small family! We spent Christmas day at my mom's. It was one of the very few (maybe the only?) white Christmas of my life! In fact there was so much snow Christmas Eve day that Christmas Eve Church service was cancelled! I'm very glad that there wasn't too much snow for Santa and his reindeer. Explaining that one to the kids may have been a bigger challenge than I would have wanted.

We continued my family's tradition of inviting people who don't have anyone to spend Christmas with. This year that meant more family! (A very exciting phenomena when one comes from such a small family!) Brian's parents joined us as well as my uncle who travelled from Vancouver Island. Brian's cousin Lisa was supposed to join us but was snowed in in Coquitlam. Of course Lisa, Rick and Zach were there.

Kyle enjoyed putting out cookies for Santa, along with the chocolate milk - because there is ALWAYS chocolate milk at Nana's as far as Kyle is concerned. And there were also carrots for the reindeer, and the accompanying note. In the morning it was a bit difficult to get Kyle to wait until Zach and Lisa and Rick came over but he managed pretty good. We started with stockings and that alone probably was enough for everyone! And then came the gifts - and gifts, and gifts! There were laughs and excitement and lots of delight. Some of the highlights were Kyle's playmobil crane and fireman boots, Linda's Italy photobook, Lisa's Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner and Vika's new doll and baby stroller. There was also Brian's new bike.

Our day always includes a family brunch after gifts with my very favourite Christmas tradition: my mom's homemade Stollen (German Christmas Bread). Then there's time for trying out the gifts and just hanging out before we tidy up for dinner. This year was a little bit unique as Zach and Kyle could not wait to put the gifts aside and suit up to go out and play in the snow! And they did - for hours! Lisa, Rick and Zach usually head home to relax for the afternoon as they are always up late Christmas Eve. They return for dinner and we have the traditional turkey with my sister's great garlic mashed potatoes. This year Brian's mom made a selection of pies for dessert.

We like to drag out Christmas for one more day. Boxing day is PJ's and puzzles in my mom's house. And we like it just that way. I think this may be difficult for some of the guests sometimes but they usually get the hang of it without too much effort! This year mom's puzzle was one of the Cinque Terre in Italy - where we visited earlier in the year.

The chaos of Christmas in the Hartley household is something I actually quite enjoy - as exhausting as it it is! It is all part of tradition, but if it weren't for the kids what would it be? Kyle was able to read his name on gifts this year and Vika...well, Vika got a little ahead of herself in opening gifts and there were a couple that had to be wrapped again!