WInter arrives!

Last time I posted we had been to the zoo in Pistoia in light weight jackets and cardigans! This is only a month ago but today would seem ridiculous! There was a zoo trip arranged with a local church group about 2 weeks after our trip, it was cancelled due to the snow and freezing temps up in Pistoia! My heating is well and truly on all the time now.

The worst part is getting up and going to school in the morning. I admit we don't make every day, especially when it is torrential rain outside. A mile walk to school in the heaviest rain falls in 20 years or something is not my idea of fun, I'm afraid!! Luckily this is still Asilo, so it isn't obligatory for Antonia to attend, when it is I will have to get my act together! Driving, even if I had a car, isn't really an option as the school is the wrong side of a huge one way system, so it takes longer to drive than to walk!! A scooter would be more practical - we shall see!

The up side to winter being here is that everything is starting to look Christmassey! The tree is in the main square in Florence, the lights are, on the whole, up and on. The tree man has arrived on the corner of the viale with his dozens of real trees. I'm waiting for next week to get one!

Next week!! Alex is home for the holidays, 3 whole weeks! Yay! Another reason for not posting is all the sickness we have ALL had - Antonia and her constant colds, then the 3 of us, at different times, with a really nasty stomach bug! Alex has just had it at school this last week - it was one of the worst times of my life! He just wanted to come home, but apart from the logistics he wouldn't have been allowed on a plane throwing up and once he started to feel better school said he had to stay!! I thank God for Face Book! We were constantly messaging through it while he was sick, as well as talking on the 'phone. Now he is better - nothing! But that's teens for you! School has it's own infirmary, staffed 24 hours by nurses with doctors on call, so in the long run I felt he was better where he was. If it had turned into something more serious they would have just sent him straight into a hospital, which I would have done here too, but at least there we can work things out in English! The idea of a sick child, the worry and trying to deal with it all in Italian doesn't even bear thinking about!

Anyway, assuming I won't post again until after Christmas and Befana ;) - Happy Holidays wherever you are!