December 2010 (From Western Telegraph)

Christmas 2010

3:05pm Monday 3rd January 2011

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December slid in with cold foggy mornings, wet and windy days and icy nights, although nothing compared to what hit the UK, still it was unexpected and many people failed to get their olive and other crops harvested before the weather turned.

As we were mired in with mud we made the most of the poor weather by baking mince pies and freezing them for later, making sweet mincemeat for next year and grain mustard, ensuring a good supply for the forthcoming year. Most of the ingredients had been brought by family and friends as Italy is not known for it’s love of spicy foods. Things like mustard powder, seeds, malt vinegar, currants, all spice, mixed spice and the like just cannot be found outside of the very big cities and even then you need to know someone who knows where to buy them. However there are shops that are now stocking Indian and Asian spices so curries are not as rare as they once were and are most welcome on the cold nights in front of a blazing log fire.

Once we emerged to restock, running low on cat food is not an option, we discovered that Chiusi were having a Sunday market with stall holders promoting Christmas gifts. We went along and although there were a few seasonal items it was much like the normal Monday market but with a lot more toys. There were a few suspicious people flogging things off travel rugs on the pavements or approaching you as you walked around with books you did not want for a “donation” 5 –10 euros seemingly the minimum, unusual for our area. There were even a few shops open on the Sunday too. We noticed that several of the supermarkets were advertising they would be open for 4 Sundays in December including December the 8th, a bank holiday for the “immaculate conception” here.

It wasn’t all merry and bright. On a foray into the dark we managed to puncture a front tyre. Not to worry we had an electric compressor unit to re-inflate the tyre, that runs off the accessory socket, and a spare with us. It is at times like these, when the freezing wind is howling around your ankles and the mud is oozing up the side of your footwear, that you realise you should have read the instructions earlier. The compressor wasn’t inflating the tyre and we couldn’t get the plastic dust caps off the nuts to change the wheel for the spare. After struggling for 40 minutes, getting colder by the second, we decided we’d have to limp to the garage at the bottom of our hill. This did not improve the tyre and we abandoned the car there walking the last kilometre and a half home. The following morning the lads at the garage were most sympathetic and so were the other 4 owners who were getting their tyres exchanged, replaced or repaired, in front of us. Not surprisingly they couldn’t match the tread of the remaining front tyre so we had to purchase 2 new tyres. As we signed the enormous cheque, we decided this was going to be our Christmas present to us this year.

We met up with a friend who told us that in Florence for the next week there was a German market, from Heidelberg, with their special type of Christmas goods on offer. Hand blown baubles, pottery houses in the form of night lights, wooden toys, ginger bread, mulled wine and other seasonal items sold from wooden chalet style stalls. So we decided to go and see what there was on offer, letting the train take the strain. The reports were slightly exaggerated, there were a few stalls from Germany mostly selling food stuffs but two did have baubles, one from Poland, three from France, one from Russia an unidentifiable one that sold spices where we stocked up on all spice, five spice, ground coriander and the like, a Dutch stall and to our amazement a Best of British stand where we bought pickles, Pembrokeshire cheese and marmalade. So although it wasn’t as big or anything like we expected we did managed to come away laden down with goodies.

Where were Christmas fairs at mot local towns with stalls offering hand made item and local speciality foods, father Christmas for the children. Live cribs, wax models, wooden figures and combinations were positioned under major buildings for viewing from Christmas day until epiphany (6th January).

The weather turned very cold (-13deg c at night) and dry with a freezing northerly wind that took your breath away and encouraged the cats to stay home in the warm. We did not have the snow and chaos that covered the UK thankfully but it was extreme for this time of year making us run the heating system flat out just to maintain a minimum of just 18 degrees inside the large living area. We celebrated Christmas at home with some friends to share it with us encouraging us to make an effort and put up the decorations and so forth. Previous years we hadn’t bothered. Last year we intended decoration so it would have meant extra work taking them down to paint. The year before we’d had builders and the year before that we hadn’t even unpacked then to hang, so this was the first year here with tree, lights, wreaths and tinsel, the full works as it were. Turkey isn’t easily found as lamb is a season speciality (and not very nice so we don’t bother to buy it) so it was a blend of themes. Starting with mulled wine to thaw our guests out. The first course was polenta chips with three dips, slasa verdi, ragu and cheese. The main course was a type of coq o van with roast potatoes, onion mash, sprouts and parsnips (courtesy of friends who posted them over for us) bacon wrapped stuffing balls, cranberry sauce and bread sauce. Then, for those with room, panacotta, coffee and mince pies. Naturally we had Christmas pud and cake on offer but our guests are moderate eaters and declined so all the more for us on boxing day with leftovers. We like leftovers, soups, stews, curries always taste better the following day, we think.

From Christmas day until Epiphany (6th January) the “Teriere Castello” (the Castle third of the town) group but on a display of the crib scene under the Palazzo della Corgna (now the library) in aid of a charity every year. We went along and were delighted with the scenes that were created in the corridors, nooks and cellars. It started with the journey of the three kings on their way to Bethlehem, camped by the side of an oasis. The cellar opened up to show a country scene of hills filled with shepherds and their flocks with the “sky” above changing between night and day. The next corridor had elephants and camels making their way to the crib scene that was filled with animals and characters approaching the holy family. On the way out there is a depiction of Citta dalla Pieve as it looked in medieval times in the snow with the sky varying between night and day again.

To make our day complete family and friends called from the UK to wish us well and share their day with us.

So to everyone out there, may 2011 bring what you need most.

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