We had our little Christmas get-together Saturday night.  It was an ex-British Empire hullabaloo!  There were Australians, an Irish woman, Americans and an English gal.  GP was the only full blooded Italian in the mix.  It was fun. I made finger food, popped open a half dozen bottles of wine and tuned in my Christmas music radio station direct from Cork, Ireland.  One of the Australians is said to be one of the top soccer coaches in Australia.  He was touring and working with teams in France and stopped for a few days to visit friends here who happen to be friends of ours.  He's a nice guy and is my idea of stereotypically Australian.  He's rugged, handsome, outdoorsy, friendly and funny but he barely drinks!  Poor guy was freezing.  He sat on the sofa with his parka on, sort of squished up in the corner trying to keep warm, holding his wine glass with two hands like a coffee mug.  Half the time he had no idea what we were saying because we were going back and forth from English to Italian.  Poor guy.  His name is Michael, or as the Aussies say, "ma-co".  All of the Australians were horrifying us with stories of snakes, (poisonous and more poisonous), spiders, (big, aggressive, poisonous), killer jellyfish, sharks and salt water crocs.  Scrap that trip. 

Christmas in the city

          Here are some photos from a walk in the city.  We heard a wonderful gospel group performing in one of the piazzas.  They sang traditional southern gospel in English with just the hint of Italian accent.  Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  Still not really feeling it.  Must bake.  xxoo me

Gospel singers

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