Buon Natale Milano

It's time to catch you up on some of what December and Christmas celebrations looked like for me in Milan.
The week before Christmas Milan got a nice dusting of snow. This is the view off my balcony... I loved the contrast of the persimmons and their white cap of snow.

I just had to get a live tree for my room. This year it was a lil Snoopy tree due to the fact that I had to haul it home by foot. That little guys was heavy! The trees here come potted. Complete with a Pinocchio nutcracker and a star made by the boys.

My American friend, Amber, who lives up the street invited a few girls offer to trim her tree and indulge in some yummy appetizers.

This "Americanites" Christmas party had homemade egg nog, a caroling sing-along, and an elf..haha....or that's what I called this guy all night. The woman to my right is my Italy mom and her coworkers from the U.S. Consulate. Every Wednesday night this club "Americanites" serves American style burgers and plays English movies. It's a nice taste of home and I've met several very cool English speaking people.

Maggie, an intern at the US Consulate, and I. She was in Milan 3 months and this was her last night:(

Yep, that's us singing away...all the Christmas favorites.

This was a free concert by the Duomo, Burt Bacharach. I was surprised at how many songs I actually knew and could sing along to. I think my favorite by him is "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head". He also wrote most of the sappy song I love in "My Best Friend's Wedding".

My California friend, Katy, fellow Au Pair went with me....and our toes almost froze off but it was worth it....great show!

My British friend, Harriet, and I went to check out "Snow Park" by the castle. Sooo cold but the Vin Brule (hot, spiced wine) got us feeling our digits again.

This fashion statement or faux pas....the chicken hat, cow hat, US sunglasses, onesy snow suit, neon, and the blow up cow he was dragging around....was not runway approved but I guess it achieved some advertising attention for Milka chocolate:)

The boys were out of school for about 3 weeks over the holidays. This day we played in the snow and I took them to the castle and "Snow Park" to tube down a man made hill. We got another few inches of snow...plenty for snowballs, snow angels and snowmen!

For the record, I won the snowball fight;)

We were fresh out of carrots...

One day I took the guys iceskating. A couple of the U.S. Marines that guard the U.S. Consulate came along. Good times.....we raced, threw snowballs, etc.

I took around 200 photos of the kids one week and got some photos printed and framed as a Christmas gift for their parents. They are such characters...and I captured alot of their goofiness.

Christmas morning we opened gifts...the guys' excitment was fun to witness.

Note my Christmas tree PJ pants that my mom gave Michelle and I and wore herself...we were together in spirit:) The rest of the day we just hung out around the house and I took a long nap and helped with a turkey dinner.

Merry Christmas Everyone!