Pordenone - with the family

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Geo: 45.9639, 12.6575

Poor little Matthew - he had vomited and vomited all day Saturday, but after spending the night tucked up with Mummy, he woke feeling much better - he was keen to tackle croissants and ham for breakfast!

Esio met us outside the B&B and we followed him to Mass, where Matteo was the altar server. It's a fairly new church, and this Sunday included a blessing of the harvest...though, when the priest took a big bowl, some salt and some vegetables, I thought he might be going to make some minestrone!

Then followed a lovely day with the Pordenone cousins. We toured Esio and Antoinella's enormous house that they have recently built. It is huge, and very open plan, which is unusual for Italians. The kids played so well with Matteo (11) and Paolo (15) - computer games and the wii really are an international language. After lunch with Esio's family, we prepared for all the Pordenone family to arrive - Zia Isetta, Renato & Sara and Alessio, Silvia & Stefano and baby Guilia, Anna Maria & Daniele and their girls Francesca and Paola, and Antoinella's parents. It was noisy and chaotic and so, so good to be part of this wonderful loving family. Many tears were shed at leaving them again.

Esio and Antoinella had told us that the Bufana comes to Italian children on the morning of 6 January - so we were prepared and helped the children put out socks before bed, so that the old hag who followed the Wise Men searching for the Christ Child could put treats in the socks during the night!

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