Ah, Christmas Eve, and I spent the morning in the hospital visiting a specialist because I'm STILL SICK!  My first round of antibiotics got rid of the fever and the headaches but stopped short of curing the sore throat.  And then came on the pain and the THROMP, THROMP, in my right ear.  So I revisited my doctor yesterday and he called to set me up to see the Ears, Nose and Throat guy at the hospital.  (A little aside here.  The word for Otolaryngologist and the word for platypus are very similar in Italian.  This caused much laughter at my expense.)  So now I'm on another round of antibiotics, nose spray and some sort of anti-inflammatory for my sinuses.  The worst part is that I have no appetite and no desire to drink wine and tomorrow is Christmas in Italy!  Oh the waste, the waste.  It should be an interesting day though as we'll be joined by 2 rather odd relatives and a Canadian friend of mine from school who has found himself alone for the holidays.  More on that tomorrow.  Merry Christmas to all!  xxoo me