Christmas in Italy © Christina Bainbridge www.bainbridgeclass.com

Ciao. That means “Hello” in Italian Ciao! That means “Hello” in Italian! My name is Nick and I live in Rome, which is the capital city of Italy. Italy is easy to find on a map… it’s in Europe and is in the shape of a boot! See?

So, now that you know where I live, let me tell you about what I am getting ready to do today… I am so excited! A bunch of us kids from the neighborhood are getting together to… well, why don’t you just come along and find out!

Right now we are celebrating the Novena- the three weeks before Christmas. One thing we love to do is go to the homes in the neighborhood to sing and say some of our favorite Christmas poems. Sometimes the neighbors give us treats and even money we can use to buy gifts!

That was fun, but I’m glad we’re home. See the manger by the couch That was fun, but I’m glad we’re home! See the manger by the couch? My dad will put that outside tonight. Many families in Italy decorate with manger scenes outside of their homes. I love seeing the different mangers in my neighborhood! Let’s take the manger out to him.

I love my manger scene! We actually celebrate January 6th, or the 12th day of Christmas, as the day the Three Wise Men brought gifts to Jesus. We get presents that day too! Let’s head back inside and I’ll tell you all about it!

Like I said, we believe that January 6th is the day the Three Wise Men brought gifts to Jesus. We call it “Ephiphany”. Old Befana, a silly old witch, leaves us presents on Ephiphany too. She leaves gifts in the socks of good children and coal in your socks if you’re naughty. I hope I’ll get a gift!

We also get gifts on Christmas Eve We also get gifts on Christmas Eve! Babbo Natale is the Santa Claus of Italy. We write letters to him and, if we’re good, he’ll bring us what we asked for when he comes on Christmas Eve! I’m hoping for a new computer this year!

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about my two favorite things about Christmas in Italy! First… the tasty food! At my house, my nona, or grandma, makes lots of sweets, breads, fish, and even eel for our Christmas meal. Yum!

But my all-time favorite part about Christmas in Italy is the time I got to see the Pope give his yearly address at the Vatican. He always blesses the people at noon on Christmas Day. He is very special to people in Italy and around the world too.

I am so glad you stopped by I am so glad you stopped by. I’ve got to start writing my letter to Babbo Natale! I hope you enjoyed learning about how we celebrate in Italy! Ciao! That means goodbye too!

Buon Natale! Do you know who I am? That’s right! Old Befana! I’m off to deliever presents to Nick… I think you’d agree that he’s been quite a good boy this year! Buon Natale!