Le Vacanze di Natale.

SO MUCH FUN.

The day after Christmas here they celebrate as like a second Christmas day, which I LOVE. We went to Zio Pippi's home all day and ate until our stomaches were bulging. IT WAS DELICIOUS AND COMPLETELY WORTH EVERY KILO I GAINED (yeah, I am using the metric system...no big deal). At night I went out with a girl and some of her friends who were also at the dinner so that was fun! Then I went to Cerreto (skiing mountain) for the rest of the break. I haven't tried skiing yet, but I plan on very soon (a.k.a. next weekend). New Years was a blast also! They had these people ski down the mountains carrying torches with the colors of the italian flag and it was so pretty. Then there were fireworks over the lake! They were pretty awesome (but 4th of July in America is a little bigger ;D)! Then we walked around and went to a bar and then danced for a little bit! I got home at 4:30 am. I was exhausted! We are slept the next day, except I won the award for sleeping in the latest (3:45 pm OH YEAH)! Then on the 6th of January there is another holiday here called "La Befana." I like it a lot! It drags out the Christmas holiday even longer! Befana is a friend of Santa Claus (Babbo Natale is him name here) and she comes down the Chimney on January 5th. We put the stockings out and then she puts either candies and chocolates or coal and onions in your stocking! The sweets are for good children, and the cruddy gifts are for bad children (duh)! We do the same thing (the naughty and nice thing and the stocking thing), but it is just that Santa does it all and we put other stuff in our stockings! It was really fun! I got a ton of chocolate and candy, and then two pieces of coal hehe (: I thought it was really funny! Then that day we returned back to La Spezia. I also love everyone at Cerreto that I met. It is so small and everyone has been there for so long that they are all so close! They treated me just like a family member. I cannot wait to go back! Tomorrow school starts up again though, and then I change host families on Tuesday. I am definitely having mixed feelings because I am SO content with my family right now (they are literally amazing, I am so blessed), but I know my next family is also really nice. I am really nervous though to switch. Oh well, it has to be done! I will write again tomorrow while I am packing up my room! CIAO CIAO CIAO!