Gospel choir; Christmas at home

Saturday morning I woke up to a nice surprise: an email from Dr. Harper, the ER physician who resuscitated me on the flight to Italy last year. I had mailed him a physical letter over a year ago, which he received but then buried. Anyway, he was very kind and wanted to know how we were doing. I explained what we do here every day and how much we enjoy it. He is coming over here again next fall and hoped to see us. I told him we will be home by then, but that if he is ever in southern California, we owe him dinner (and more)! He is a devout Christian as well as a wonderful man.

Dee and I spent a little time cleaning out and reorganizing the hall closet. It was good to have some free time at home. I filled up the windshield wiper fluid reservoir in our car, almost finishing the 5 liter bottle I bought just after we got here. Anziano Balzotti wants what is left, which will free up more space in the cabinet. I also did my bi-weekly laptop backups.

The Willeys, a new senior couple slated to work in the office, arrived at the airport and were picked up by the Millets. I messaged with them during the day about taking them Monday morning to get their codice fiscale, filling out the forms with their personal info. We still need copies of their passport to bring along. Sorella Millet will come with us, since she found she needs to get her codice fiscale too.

We have received some nice Christmas cards from home, either in the mail here or scanned by our son Rich at home. It was good to hear from some friends and catch up a bit. I responded to a couple of them via email, but probably won't have time to do that for every one.

It was quite cold outside. I walked to the Chinese store to get a few things for around the house. There was a huge line there for the first time ever -- it is Christmas! Later I walked up to Todis and got a bunch of tortillas (we were almost out) and some things for Dee's dinners she is making for events Saturday and Sunday. She spent much of the afternoon in our (small) kitchen here making a tortellini dish for the Rome 1 Christmas party in the evening. We had the tortellini waiting in the freezer, extra ingredients from a dinner a month ago, and she found a very nice recipe. If you know much about Dee, you will not be surprised to know that occasionally I wonder who this kitchen woman is and what she did with my wife! 😉😀

 

We left about 4:30pm for the party, which is across town. Normally we wouldn't have gone since it isn't our ward, but their ward invited the LDS Friendship Center refugees to their party. Sixty-two refugees came. The Center gospel choir would perform and rock the place in a fun way, with Chris leading the choir (he is the one I baptized in July). A number of our young missionaries and our GANS were involved, so we just had to be there! Anziano Mansell in particular really got into it, which was fun to see. After the choir, they had some fun and chaotic games which got everyone involved; Dee was a judge and I translated the game instructions into English. At a couple of points I messed up and translated what the Italian guide had just said into ... Italian! 😀😖 Translating is never easy.

After that they had a Spanish group sing Feliz Navidad. It was an international evening, with lots of visitors and non-members. Then we all sang a closing Christmas carol, followed by a closing prayer, and then the eating started!  It was a lot of fun to visit with so many friends.  Here are just a few photos of the evening, but I took a whole bunch, including videos; you can see them all here if you are so inclined.

Gospel choir with Chris directing

Anziano Mansell on left

Balloon game

Just a little bit of food

We got home before 9pm. At 10pm we had a Skype video call with our kids in California, who had gathered at Donna's home for our family Christmas. With Chiara leaving next weekend to come here, they did it early, which is often how our family rolls anyway. Donna, Jim, Lynn, Alyssa, and Jeremy were all there, so it was the full crew, except that Dee's parents cancelled at the last minute. Neither of them was feeling well, but it is also not clear that they actually understood what was going on -- it is a first for them to miss Christmas with their (only) grandkids! Very sad. Fortunately, the family later went over to their home in South Pasadena to see the grandparents they so love. I was so sad and concerned about Nana and Papa missing the gathering. I hope to be able to help make things better for them. I know Jim and Lynn are working hard. Wendy sent some photos later:

L-R: Donna, Alyssa, Wes, Chiara

 

Papa and Nana with Jeremy

L-R: Chiara, Donna, Papa, Jeremy

I had fun with the gifts. Everything was presented in its Amazon box. To help keep things straight, I added a middle name to Donna's name on the address line. For example, Donna Wendy Warren. Donna got a kick out of the box addressed to Donna Donna Warren. A few were real hits. Donna loved her butterfly cape. 

I loved the line on Lynn's mug; "If your thighs are touching, you're one step closer to being a mermaid."