Merry Christmas!

Enjoy this Christmas video of our merry merry Christmas shared with the delight of a 21 month old, cunkle Chad from Sweden and Nonni Coletti. With love, the Colettis

A Merry Little Video

luca on ice

We introduced Luca to the ice yesterday. As he is half yankee (or red sox), it's never too early to get him used to the frozen pista and see if he can be NHL material in a few years. I gave up trying to give Luca a ride myself, I had to fully concentrate on my own survival, with most Italians not understanding the counter-clockwise direction you usually follow.

airborne

 the hidden smile

 not so happy on the sidelines

okay Dadda, time to go, here's your shoes.

Thanksgiving no. 5

 angry bird

 double bird stuffing sandwich

 Luca and Davide warm up the race track

 bird, potato, and stuffing unveiling

Luca, the official dessert taster

We celebrated our 5th Thanksgiving this year in Pecetto. And of course having Nonni Coletti around made it extra special and possible in many ways. They distracted, played with, and kept Luca out of trouble while preparations were made, they peeled 20lbs of potatoes, and graciously offered their apartment for the event itself. La Pasta Fresca shop once again offered to raise, butcher and cook the turkeys for us. We ended up with 2 stuffed birds weighing a combined 15kg (33lbs). Between the tasty hors' devours, the turkey and everything that goes with it, and desserts a plenty, we only finished off one turkey among 33 adults. Thus, an excuse to eat the remaining bird the following week with 15 pecettesi. By the end of it, we all thought it might be possible to have too much of a good thing.

We ended the party with our usual Thanksgiving roundtable, giving thanks for landladies, nonni, husbands and wives, english lessons, good friends, good wine, turkey, and one bun in the oven. :)

Nonni!!

Yes, nonni Coletti have just arrived for their 8 week stay with us. I am more than happy for the company, and the added entertainment for Luca. Winter days can be long, but not when you have the grandparents next door to wake up every morning, complete with Ipad and Iphone to entertain, and electric toothbrushes that can massage your neck! Luca has warmed right up to them thanks to their familiar presence on skype every week and our biannual visits. They arrived just in time to help us prepare for Thanksgiving and join in on our 5th annual Turkey dinner with a record number of guests, 32 and 3 babies.

 Luca "helping" by throwing unpeeled potatoes in the pot. 20 lbs of mashed potatoes to feed 30+

Iphone Pavarotti 

Sciopero!

A couple of weeks ago Pininfarina went on strike to protest the 120 workers that were fired as a result of the closure of many of its fabrication plants. Luca and I went down with Mark the morning of the strike to check out the action. There wasn't much of it, instead it looked like the only thing that was missing was a coffee bar. Despite the peaceful atmosphere they managed to block the main road for 30 minutes and of course the media was all over it and Luca got his 5 seconds of fame. You'll see the whole Coletti family in the first 30 seconds, click on link below:

Pininfarina on Strike

kung fu kick!

Halloween was hopping in Pecetto this year. Little by little we're seeing this american holiday take it's hold here. But rather than knock on strangers doors for candy (unheard of in Italy), all of the shops are stocked with hard candy, candy pacifiers, and sour strips. This year Luca was a Kung Fu fighter inspired by Uncle E's gift from China. We rehearsed and re-rehearsed his kung fu kick much to the delight of many skype viewers. However, when the night came, our fighter was a little sullen. He was happy to chomp down on handfuls of candy instead.

 5 month old Alberto sporting the Tiger costume from last year.

 our kung fu fighter, complete with eye makeup.

 the pasta shop is the most festive stop

una vera strega!

a Tuscan Reunion

Over a year ago, Mark's uncle Gary decided to throw the 70th birthday party of a lifetime for his dear wife and mother of 5, Theresa. The party would be in Tuscany where they lived as a family for a year some 20 years ago. They graciously brought all 5 kids, and their families over for a week and better yet, we got to crash the party for a weekend. Thank you Prime family for letting us share in your celebration!

The villa that slept 24

 Ruby and Zara hit the pool despite the fresh autumn weather

 While the babysitter entertained the jet lagged toddlers, the adults enjoyed an intimate tuscan dinner

 Gary, Theresa, and ragu!

 Zara and Luca practice their pianoforte

 The kids take over the villa, one room at a time

 4 monkeys jumping on the bed

 soccer time

 Rita and Daniele's for afternoon pizza

 Daniele, il pizzaiolo

Ocean slips into a food slumber.