Xmas is in the air

Hey guys, what's up?

Have been quite busy lately, but here I am writing my 2nd post. As the title suggests, today I'm going to talk about one of my favorite times of the year, Christmas. By this time next month most people across the world will already have celebrated this holiday, which generally occurs on December 25 according to the Gregorian calendar – though some variations can be found depending on the church or section one belongs to.

Personally, what I love the most about this period is that families and friends gather together to celebrate, while outside Christmas decorations and lights transform the streets and towns into a sort of Santa’s village, with kids writing their letters to Babbo Natale (the Italian version for Santa Claus), and adults enjoying the Xmas atmosphere as well.

As I was saying before, this is definitely one of the most popular festivities all over the world, being celebrated in many of the world’s nations, and in a really wide variety of ways. However, despite the differences characterizing each country or region, there’s something that binds the vast majority of people together, that is, the Christmas family meal.

Also in Italy this meal represents an important part of the holiday’s celebration, with an endless number of typical dishes served throughout these days. It is interesting to see how the very old recipes our ancestors left us still stand in today’s culinary tradition and, at the same time, continue to be handed down from generation to generation so to preserve this priceless heritage.

As for my Xmas day, I’m celebrating it with my family and relatives. Finally, I’ll be able to see my sister Laura, who’s living away and cannot join us as much as she actually would. Laura and I get on very well, and I just love whenever she comes around. Usually, it’s us who prepare the Xmas meal for the entire family, with mom and dad helping us out.

We still haven’t decided the entire menu for the day, but I’m pretty sure we will be able to impress all of the guests with our appetizers and cakes. We are definitely preparing a multi-layer cake (similar to the one in the picture on the side, which was last year’s homemade Xmas cake) along with the ever-present Italian Pandoro, stuffed with lemony mascarpone cream and chocolate chips.

Ok, perhaps I might stop talking about food at this hour; just the idea of such good dishes is making my mouth water.

And what are you guys going to do this Christmas?

Have you already booked or planned your holidays?

Stefano.