Epifania

Yesterday was Epiphany!  The kids, indeed, woke up to a gift and stocking stuffed with sweets from La Befana.  Matteo got a Peppa Pig coloring book that teaches him English and Sara got "The Complete Book of Flower Fairies" that she had asked for Christmas. Baby Jesus and I had a miscommunication of who would buy it, so we ordered it a tad late.  I started bursting into laughter when I saw coal in their stockings!  They receive candy that resembles carbone (coal) every year as a joke.

Since today is giorno festivo (public holiday) we got to spend the day all together.  We headed off to Mass (it's a holy day of obligation here) and right after, to climb to the top of Il Duomo!

I have been waiting to do this ever since I understood it was possible, back in the summer.  However I wanted to do it with my host family.

Some fun facts of Il Duomo:  (Heads up! I may quiz you later!  :P  )
- This is the third largest cathedral in the world, after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and the Cathedral of Seville in Spain.
- It took 500 years to complete.  The Italians of Milan have a saying "..took longer than the building of Il Duomo".
- There is one tiny staircase, made for one person, with 919 stairs on it, leading to the roof.  Otherwise there is an elevator..but we went all out!

Il Duomo e La Galleria

The stairs took a toll on the kids.

My wonderful famiglia ospite!

Piazza del Duomo

La Madonnina d'oro (The golden Madonna)

Un doccione (gargoyle)

Although Italians are generally more relaxed than Americans, they are significantly more relaxed than us during the holiday season.  The reasoning behind this? They are always spending time with their family!  Hence, it is just a vacation for them.  They do not have the pressure of being forced to try to bond with the family in one week.  In America we typically only get to see grandparents on the holidays, while Italian kids typically get picked up by their nonni from school and are babysat by them until the parents arrive.  Even Sara and Matteo, who have Alina (the nanny) and me, see both sets of grandparents at least once a week.  How nice is that?

So there you all have it.

When you keep your family around, you have less stress and therefore more happiness in life because they are your happiness.  :)