First I went to Mass at the university chapel, where I had agreed to play piano. The congregation was very small: less than 20, I think. The whole feeling of the campus area is very similar to what it was a year ago when I first moved here: very quiet!
I made a cabbage and noodle salad - one that was slightly traditional for our family Christmases, and has been very traditional for my Christmases here - to take to Giorgio's place. He was hosting several Italian friends and a few others for Christmas lunch. Christmas lunch Italian time: others might call it early Christmas dinner.
We began with delicious nibbles and moved onto clams and pasta for main course, along with various accompaniments that many of the guests had brought. We certainly had more food than we needed, though perhaps not quite as much as at Peter's place the previous evening.
It was a very talkative gathering: I found myself listening most of the afternoon! I don't think there were any Americans there, and many of us were at the point in our lives and careers where we're deciding how long we might want to stay in the US and how to achieve that. So immigration law proved a significant point of conversation.
The party went rather late: I heard there was karaoke and a huge sandwich around 10 pm. But I left at 7 to Skype with my family. It was especially nice for the three boys to be able to gather together: it's been a long time (over two years) since we were together in person, but casual Skype conversations at Christmas time, about nothing in particular (or about multi-dimensional computer games) get pretty close.
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