What a wonderful season

Merry Christmas!!!

Here's wishing you a happy Christmas season with all the blessings Christ bestows. We are not posting pictures of us at Christmas because we look the same as usual, just different jammies.

However, here are a few pictures of our impressions of Christmas in Sicily. Disclaimer: This is the viewpoint of us as we spend our third Christmas season in Sicily, not as tourism advocates.

The Saturday night before Christmas we went to Catania with Giusseppe and Mimma. The sidewalks were so crowded that people were walking all through the center of the street. (You'll have to double click on the picture to see it as we did.) Occasionally a car would come through and people parted just enough to let it pass then moved back together. There was a carnival atmosphere in the air. Street vendors hawking toys, scarves, hats, belts, watches and anything else that might be considered a Christmas gift. On the left in the photo above you can see the back of Giusseppe. The Sicilians were in heavy coats, scarves, hats while Bob and I, thinking the weather comfortable, had on light jackets.

On Sunday we went to Caltegirone to see the prescepe (nativity) displays. They were more magnificent than any I've ever seen. Whole rooms with scenes from the Sicilian countryside all leading to the stable with the Christ child. The scenes were very intricate and made of materials from terra cotta, to ceramic, to flannel (the scene on the right was actually a whole room-sized nativity display made of sewn flannel, and I think it was my favorite---please excuse the glare, it was behind glass and , though other phots of the scene didn't have the glare, this was the one I wanted you to see)

In addition to the large nativity scenes, every year there is a contest for the best nativity------displayed in a car. There is a type of car here in Sicily that is about the size of a Smartcar and the piazza was filled with these little cars, each with a nativity built right into the car, mostly inside the car, a few built into the trunk. They, also were made from a variety of materials and all were amazing. As intricate as they all were, I wonder what they do with the cars the rest of the year. It must take a month to create such a display.

Finally, here is my Christmas wish for you:

In this holiday season, may all the love you see everywhere around the world remind you of the One who loved us so much He gave His most precious gift---Christ Jesus, Our Lord. And may you understand more clearly every day how precious that gift was and give Him all the honor and praise in your mind and heart.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for a blessed new year.

Marianne