The Symphony

A week ago Thursday, we went to the symphony! It was a special show for kids where the conductor gave a presentation beforehand. He explained the parts of Mozart's symphonies so the kids would have a better understanding of what they would hear. But, since this presentation was in Italian, my kids were unenlightened. They really enjoyed being in the theater and finally hearing the symphony when the presentation was over. Thankfully, music is a universal language! The outing was a great treat for all of us!!

Here are a couple of pictures I took with my phone. I have others on my computer that Dany's brother took with his really nice camera, but I can't post these since my computer normally can't connect to the Internet here. Thankfully, I've been able to get it to cooperate just enough to order some Christmas gifts for family :)

Christmas lights

On Sunday evening we all went out for a long walk to see the Christmas light in downtown Como. It was a beautiful evening, pleasantly cool, with lots of people out to enjoy the lights! I know these pictures don't do justice to the experience.

I bambini

Look at this picture that Dany's father showed me yesterday. It's Dany (at the top) and his 4 of his siblings soon after the 5th child was born.

Buon Compleanno a Nonno!

Last Saturday we celebrated Dany's father's birthday!

Another 4-year-old moment

Chiara has been having trouble with the names of all the people here. It's understandable. I remember practicing the names of all of Dany's family for a while before coming here for the first time nearly 12 years ago, and now several of them have significant-others, which makes even more names to remember.

Chiara has solved the problem by simply referring to everyone as "that boy" or "that girl." Tonight when I was putting her in bed she said to me, "Mommy, I didn't know that that girl who lives here and speaks Italian is the mother of this house!". (She was referring to Dany's mom, her grandmother :))

Il Lago di Como

On Saturday we took a long walk down by the lake. I had forgotten how pretty the mountains and lake are!

First pictures with family

Here are some of our first pictures of the kids with their Italian grandparents (nonni) and aunts and uncles (zii).