La Festa del Ringraziamento

Buona sera!

Today was AWESOME. I left my house around 1 to catch the bus to Aunt Gail's and Uncle Ellis'. I arrived much earlier than I was supposed to (2:00 pm) but it didn't matter because Aunt Gail needed some help anyway. She had given this Thanksgiving the theme of "New York chic," so I dressed completely in black. When I walked in, the living room furniture was gone, and in its place were gorgeous tables, set perfectly with tan and brown sparkling linens, pretty centerpieces, wine glasses, etc. The chairs were covered with beautiful quilted covers and everything looked amazing. Since New York is "The Big Apple," the biggest apples I had ever seen were placed on every table, and there was an enormous tower of apples as a centerpiece on the main food table.

I went downstairs and Aunt Gail was not in the kitchen. Instead, a team of chefs were in there cooking our Thanksgiving meal! Aunt Gail was outside slicing apples for "Big Apple Martini's" with one of the waiters. Again, there were huge apples everywhere. They were hanging from trees and everything!

Once everyone arrived, we all congregated outside and waiters continuously passed out awesome hors d'oeuvres, champagne, and "Big Apple Martinis." I spent most of my time chatting with Benedetta, Andrea, Arianna, and their respective parents. I think I relate best with all of them. Of course though, every time another person came through the door, they had to hug and kiss me and tell me about the time they came to the United States and saw me when I was 5. They even had pictures! One grandma made me her special cookies! It was so funny because I knew almost none of them, and they all knew me. One women, who was just a friend of Aunt Gail's and Uncle Ellis', wasted no time in scheduling lunch with me on Friday. She's Spanish and teaches foreign and Italian students in Fiesole. She really wants me to see the school, so I'll be going there for lunch with her on Friday. That should be fun. She was really nice. Benedetta's mom also made sure to remind me that on Sunday, we are having lunch together and going shopping at the outlets outside of Florence. Italian designers at discount price? Definitely. So much for having a free weekend ahead of me. Oh well. I'm looking forward to it.

Another interesting character would be my 87 year cousin, Alberto. Apparently, my grandmother used to stay with him and his wife every year that she came to Florence. He's really old, but still walks very well and speaks REALLY loudly. He kept getting in my face every 10 minutes, yelling the same thing every time in Italian. "You have to come to our house and see where you're grandmother used to stay! You have to eat the cookies that Maria (his wife) makes! Don't just say "ok," you HAVE to come!" Then, he would shove me (a love shove), and since he's huge and I'm small, I'd fall off balance every time. Funny guy, but everyone was getting really annoyed with him. It was humorous.

After 2 hours of hors d'oeuvres, we sat down to dinner upstairs. The turkey weighed 35 pounds! There was also a 20 pound ham, stuffing, sweet potatoes, spinach salad with pomegranate, green bean almondine, pumpkin and cheese pie, corn... and the list goes on.. We had an awesome dinner and chatted a lot. Afterwards, I felt like I was in a different world because I was so tired. For dessert, there was pumpkin pie, cheesecake, a huge apple pie shaped like an apple, and more champagne! An Italian man sang a beautiful love song because it was an attending couple's 25th year wedding anniversary. He also sang a Christmas song.

I didn't hang around much longer because I was exhausted and had homework to do (which I still haven't started because I was too excited to wait to write this entry). Benedetta and her mom and dad drove me home.

I had such an awesome time! At points, I was completely overwhelmed with all the Italian and wanted to cry. But everyone kept telling me that I was doing great and everyone wanted to hear what I had to say. We had such a wonderful time. I even broke down and agreed to speak a little English with Benedetta and Andrea because they really wanted to practice (they're really good). I'm also really excited because Benedetta is coming to the States to study this summer (July and August). We are going to have so much fun together!

So, that's all for now. On to another torturous week of work. I'll write more when something else exciting happens.

A presto!