Buon Natale

I stopped being ‘homesick’ about the place where I spent my childhood decades ago. I mean I migrated to Australia just after I turned 13, and I am a year off being 50. So I am in effect a fully fledged Australian. I spent many more summer Christmases than winter ones.

However all throughout these years I have been unable to shake off the feeling that somehow I was in the wrong hemisphere when it came to Christmas. I like winter, and I long for those Christmases on my childhood when it was winter and you were snug in bed, not in front of a fan sweltering at night with record high minimum temperatures.

So when I see the picture above, from the newspaper of the city where I grew up I can’t help to have a sense of longing. That picture was taken last Monday in Piazza Vittorio Veneto, where every year a nativity scene is installed. The set up is a bit more flash, but it is in exactly in the same position as I remember it. The snow, the soft winter light it makes me want to escape the heat and experience the crunch of the snow below my feet as I approach the presepe.

So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone, whatever the weather.