On the Last Day of my Christmas...

 ...'Last', because tomorrow the tree comes down, in anticipation of my U.S. trip on Tuesday, to visit Patricia and Les, AND Columba, my dear friend with whom I have had so many adventures in Mali... but I am getting ahead of myself.  Let's start at the beginning, which was really the event advertised above. A lot of my Italian friends came for this my Swedish Christmas 'Aperitivo'. I had made a lot of Swedish Christmas fare, and had even managed to squeeze myself (only just!)  into my  traditional costume from Leksand in Central Sweden here below:

                                                                            

and it got another outing on Christmas Day, when Jeremiah, David, Hettie, Andrea and Silvana joined for that HUGE Turkey I was talking about... 

                                                                                   

                                     We behaved just like one should on Christmas Day,

                               
                                               and that involves of course Charades:

                                                                                

Some film watching (Disney's classics animations for a Swede like myself- Lady and the Tramp of Course. The Italians LOVE that one... maybe Love Actually, or A Christmas Carol- always the version with George C Scott:

and Hettie's American Christmas present game when you can steal each others presents. Last year I did not do so well, I ended up with a piece of garlic as my only Christmas present... but this year there was a great improvement, since I had stipulated that if the garlic event was repeated no one present would EVER be invited to my Christmases again...

And then came New Year's Eve, and a little group of Italian friends gathered here again, this time we made a 'picnic' and everyone brought along something. My place is perfect for New Year's  because there is a view over town and all the fireworks can be seen at midnight. 

There was a big New Year's concert at the Piazza del Campo, an Italian pop star called Irama : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQPwdQCb3lc

However, not really our cup of tea... so we stayed in and my song-loving Italian friends made their own concert. But I don't seem to be able to add the film of this splendid event! You will just have to believe me.

Last night I saw my lovely French friends Pascal and Monique here, faithful readers of my blogs, even  from my early times in Mali when they visited several times. They have made me a big fan of the great city of Lyon, where they live.

And tomorrow my lovely tree comes down... always a nostalgic event for me.  But this time there is ample consolation: at 3.30 in the morning on Tuesday a taxi will be taking me to Florence airport where I will board a plane first of all to Paris, whence I will be winging my way to Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  and then on to Rochester and Les and Patty. After a few days in sub cero temperatures we shall be flying off to New Orleans, and there will be news from there anon!