Christmas letter to my family

Ciao mia famiglia,
I have had a wonderful christmas day, and it is with heartfelt emotions that I send this email to you all. I will write more details about the day in my blog (my journal, really!) but want you to know about the family. Yesterday I took a taxi to Rina and Angelo's, had tea and cake, and spent about an hour... today I walked there from my hotel--a wonderful walk-- and enjoyed pranzo di natale with Rina, Angelo, and Elisa. I swear, Elisa is exactly the same as when I saw her in 2003 and 2005--just a little older and with more pains and ailments, but so beautiful and sweet... I am crying writing this, as I cried with Rina and Elisa just a couple of hours ago... it is so important to see our family,and to see Elisa so old, and Rina so tired, taking care of her husband and her mother. I asked about Maria, but Rina only said that she is still not doing well after Leno's death. I spoke to her for a moment on the phone yesterday when she called Rina. We said some greetings, and her voice sounded very tired and sad... her son Fabio works in Rapallo, doing something with computers.

Elisa has an ailment that they call herpes, which affects her side and arm and shoulder, and is something with the nerves, and makes her very sensitive... I suspect pain when she moves. She takes many drugs, all in cardboard boxes in a tray in her room Yesterday I greeted her in her room, and she sat in bed and we hugged and kissed, but she did not get up. Today she was sitting at the kitchen table when I arrived, and was wrapped in a cotton robe, and as I said, she looks the same... like my mother and like uncle Richie, those genes are really good to you as you age! Yesterday Rina said that Elisa only eats minestrone, but today she ate a few pieces of salami and prosciutto, some ravioli with ragu, some pork, some roasted potatoes, and quite a few roasted cippole (small roasted onions). She also had 2 or 3 glasses of wine mixed with water--and Rina put sugar in her last glass... Elisa proceeded to drink the wine by the demitasse spoonful, making a sour face, but then drank the rest of the glass:) We had dessert, and she ate a small bowl of sliced fruit, and a slice of pannetone, and a glass of prosecco... Rina says that she can't see and she can't hear, and when I arrived Rina put a hearing aid on her ear, but Elisa said that it was the same... lo stesso... Elisas sat with us throughout dinner, then was tired, and Rina led her to her room where she went back to her bed. She has been living with Rina and Angelo for a few days. When I asked if she would return to her house in Foggia, both Rina and Angelo said that they hoped not. It is so much trouble to drive up each day to check on her, bring her food and things, and to bring her down to Rapallo to the doctor. We talked about how in her own house Elisa is fine to navigate around--no problem--since she knows it so well, but in Rina's house it is different.

Yesterday when Rina invited me to dinner she said that it would be simple, not grand like "in America," but the dinner that she served was just fantastic, with all the wonderful foods and wine, and with a basket of sweets, 3 or 4 sweet breads, chocolate, caffe.. it went on and on... but was still simple and typical for here... hard to describe, but it's the italian meal that I remember as a child, and one that I hope to enjoy many times again.

After dinner Angelo went to his office, and I tried and tried to "lavo i piatti" wash the plates, but Rina insisted that she would do it tomorrow--I carried dishes into the kitchen from the table, and she would intercept me in the hallway and shush me away, so I finally gave up. We walked out onto two balconies, and she showed me where she gardens in the summer. There is a small patio with a built-in barbeque "un forno al fresco." If I had it, I would make pizza and bread, I'm sure. There are terraces going up from the property, were there are olive trees with nets spread below. I asked about olive oil, and Rina showed me the bottle with a hand written date on it--Angelo's brother makes the olive oil "olio d'olivo." Their house is on the first floor "il primo piano" and the house below them is where Angelo's sister lives. The next house down the street is where his brother lives (we also drank his brother's wine at dinner) with their mother--also very old like Elisa.

I will remember the two hours that I spent today for the rest of my life. I know that I have many relatives here in Rapallo (Mike and I visited with a few of them in 1981, and I brought some pictures for Rina) but there is a kinship with Rina that will never leave us. We both appreciate the fact that we are cousins, and that along with our parents we are gettin older... Rina is 68, which I can't believe--again, she has those youth genes!!

Now it's 16:00, and I will go out and walk towards S. Michele and S. Margherita, and maybe even to Portofino--- why not? I'll just walk as far as I'd like--it's so beautiful along the bay-- the bay of Tiguillio in Liguria with beautiful homes (some are castles, really!) on the hillsides, and sailboats and yachts in the sea... no need to eat again until tomorrow or the day after:) ... tomorrow I leave for Firenze, and need to find a room... no problem this time of year, I'm sure, so will do that on the internet. Ciao tutti! Buon Natale e Auguri!