Simple thoughts

 To you all out there!! To the ones I knew during this year through this blog, to the ones who visit my blog known through other sites, and to the ones I will get to know in the future! May the new year bring to you all joy, happiness, love,good health, money, jobs and whatever you may dream of.

 Cheers to you all........by Gracie.

Usually during the Christmas holiday, we reunite with the family (mom's side of it). After my grad-parents died some years ago, tha family was a little on the loose, we grand-children (there are 11 of us) were all grown-up people, each one with a family of their own, or almost, or university far from home. They kept us together, I remember this time of the year when I was a kid, at their home, as the most joyful and peaceful ever. But time passes and things change. One cousin lives in Genova, one in 1998 left for the States, currently he's living in New Jersey, another one spent more than 3 years in Hamburg and now he's living in Nottingham, the youngest is attending university in Bologna, so we don't have so many chances to see each other. But we all remember only too well that feeling we shared when we spent our holiday all together. So, a few years back we decided to get together this time of the year when we are all in the same place for a few days, and spend one night remembering the good old times. Tomorrow night we'll have pizza in a place just outside the city, in the hills (snowing permitting!!) and if all the 11 cousins come with wives, husbands, fianceès and children......we would be just 25 persons!! I think this is the best way to thanks our grand-parents for all the love they always had for us, for having shown us the true meaning  of the word "family".  

And now that Christmas is over, what was left? Some more kilos, due to all that foods (despite knowing that a lot of people around the world is starving) a lot of presents, not always well accepted (despite knowing that the money of just one single gift would have provide drugs to save the lifes of many children) maybe an hang-over coz of the wine we drank (despite knowing that the lack of water in some part of the world is a very big plague).

Every year now, when Christmas time is over, I feel so empty inside. I'm not able anymore to share the feeling of hope and joy that this time of the the year brought when I was younger. I know that all the good intentions are just this, good intentions, but nothing will change for real. I adopted a child from Africa (with some friends), I subscribed a few years ago to ADMO (italian organisation for donating spine marrow), I try to save as much water and energy as I can, I subscribed to Save the Children, Survivor, Amnesty International and Green Peace just to give my support, I've joined the campaign to the differentiate collecting of trash to give an hand in keeping this world cleaner, I use the bus every day so to keep down the air pollution.

And then I look around me and all I can see is indifferent and selfish people. I know that they are not all like this, that a lot of people is trying to help others, but I don't see so many results. We are closed in our little homes, in our little world, hoping that nothing too bad would happen to us. And this feeling is really bringing me down, especially when I see our governements throwing away so much money in futile things, asking us for sacrifices instead of finding a better way to spend OUR money in order to spare some to help those in need.

I'm crazy I know, at 44 I'm still dreaming of a perfect world, with no wars, no people starving, no poverty and no wasted money. Since we are born, we're destined to die, this destiny makes all the human beings  alike, but we choose not to see it.

 No, I'm not talking about traffic jam, I'm talking about the last minute presents shopping!! Every store is full of people trying to get the right thing to give at Xmas, with no idea at all about what to buy. Going back home in the evening on the bus, I always have to fight with people full of bags, packages of all size and form, making me scream!!! Xmas should be a time of joy, peace and relax, instead I will arrive at  Xmas Eve stressed and already tired. People should know that Xmas arrives every single year, so why running for presents the very last minute? Just to make me crazy?

Today it's exactly one year I lost my dear aunt Alba. She was the most loving human being on earth, always present in everyone's life. In sad moments she was the one trying to cheer others up, helping in every way she knew. In happy moments, she was always thanking God for the present joy. I whish I could have more faith than I actually have to imagine her in the arms of God, peaceful and joyful, watching for the ones she loved while alive. She hadn't a very peaceful life, she had her share of joy, (her children and her most beloved grand-children) but also a very heavy burden on her shoulders, that she always carried without ever complain. I strongly whish she'd be  in peace now, but we all miss her so very much.

  We and our friends just love to spend as much time together as we can, and considering we all have children, old parents, jobs and other stuff to attend, is pretty amazing how we manage to succed in doing this. We like just to stay together and talk, but we like to do things together, too. One of them is cooking. We have established some traditions over the years, spanish "paella" in springtime, grilled meats and vegetables in the summer, parmesan "cappelletti" for New Year's Eve dinner, to cite a few.

Every year, the 8 of december (in Italy it's national holiday) we get together at a friend home (luckily he has a big one!) for the making of "spongata", a traditional holiday cake, original of our area. It's a hell of a job, considering that it all started a few years ago, just as a try, and now it seems everyone want one of them, so now we make about 75/80 cakes, to give away as a gift for Christmas, or to sell just to have some money to adopt children from Africa. But, most of all, we do this to spend two whole days together, doing what we like best, cooking and laughing! We start usually the night before, cooking something for lunch (we don't have time to cook lunch while making the cakes!!). This cake needs a lot of ingredients (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, raisins, honey, fruits, cedar, rhum for the filling, and flour, butter and white wine for the outside) and the first day was over in the "making of". That night we dined together before the fire, tired as always, but happy for the work done. On saturday, early afternoon, we went to another friend's home in the hill sourronding the city, where she has a very old oven (about the end of 1400's/early 1500's, rebuilt in its original place while restoring the house, around early 1800's) and we spent the afternoon cooking all the cakes, and making woods for the fire it's a very hard work, I can tell you! In the evening we dined together as always, while outside a little snow was falling down. It was just like those Christmas cards, you know, a family together before the fireplace, the only light is the fire, and the white snow outside. I will never be tired of thanking God for my friends, for the warmth they bring in my life, for the support and the love they give to me, always. I don't know what life has in store for me, but till I'll have this strong connection with them, I will never be alone 

It has been a real heart-warming and  wonderful day!!

We had to celebrate 30 years passed from our first day of school together!! We met yesterday for lunch, after so many e-mails and phone calls to make all the arrangements needed, coz some of us don't live here anymore, and yesterday the weather was supposed to be not good at all. But, despite the weather conditions, we made it!! it was not the first time we met again, but yesterday it has a special meaning. After all, 30 years are a lot of time!!

I did some greetings cards celebrating the event (with a lot of my daughter's help) that I asked the waiter to put on each table seats. It was a nice surprise for all.

After a while (and with the help of some wine bottles...) we started to recall the old good times, all the funny and not so funny things that happened during the five years we spent together, the school trips, the panic on class tests and verifications, all the fights we had (even those now seem nice memories!!).

We share a few hours in harmony and in a very happy mood, going back in time when we were so much younger and with no problems at all! It's good we didn't loose the willing to get together again after all these years.

Next time? Probably before the summer, and I can't wait.

 This is the last month of the year, and beside all the expectations about Christmas, it's a sort of ending. You have the feeling that you're leaving something at your back, and you're ready to start something anew.

Maybe this year has not been too good to you, maye it's been full of sadness, grieving and sorrow. You really want it to be over, finally. It's like moving on a new house, starting a new job, going into a new relationship. You're feeling that the end is a good thing so you can start again.