Countdown to Christmas (Natale) - Italian Style! December 4

                 
                                   photo courtesy www.hgtv.com

Behind the door of my advent calendar for  Day 4 (quattro) we find none other than Babbo Natale!

As you probably can guess, Babbo Natale is the Italian name for Santa Claus.  

Babbo is a very commonly used term of endearment in many Italian homes for Dad, or Papa.  In this particular case, it's like saying "Father Christmas", but in a sweet way.

Normally, as you might expect, Babbo Natale would enter through the chimney. However, in the city of Venice, even though there are chimneys on houses, no chimneys are ever used, they haven't been used in hundreds of years. So, Babbo Natale needs another way to get in to deliver gifts on December 25.  Can you guess how he does it?  That's right, he climbs up the balcony and sneaks in a window or door. Even a blocked up chimney doesn't stop Babbo Natale!

All over Venice, we're beginning to see Babbo Natale making his appearance.

Buon Natale!

Santa Claus is coming to town...( by way of the Babbo Natale regatta in Venice yesterday)

How to make an ordinary day extraordinary? Take ten minutes to watch about 50 Venetians participating in one of the cities newer traditions, the annual Babbo Natale regatta.  Despite fog and spitting rain, these stalwart rowers donned their Babbo Natale (Santa Claus) outfits and raced the course between San Zaccaria and Ca'Foscari down the Grand Canal yesterday. 

I took up a post just the  San Zaccaria vaporetto stop, knowing I wouldn't be able to see any more than all the racers queuing up and taking off. It was enough to put a big smile on my face and start my day off right. 

 This rower changed up their outfit a little bit  by adding a reindeer hat (FYI- reindeer in Italian is la renna)

 The boat with the pink flag on the end is the local Pink Lioness group, an organization who row in support of Breast cancer research and cures.

  

 This is still pre-race, and although hard to distinquish in my photo, this woman is taking a last minute phone call, probably from the North Pole!

 Elves, reindeer and Santas, oh my!

The race official giving the signal to begin racing.

 While standing around waiting for the regatta to kick off, this boat was just off to my right, decorated to the hilt for Natale.

It's been a week of preparation for the holidays.  Besides getting our tree up, apartment decorated, last minute gifts purchased and meals planned, my preparations included beefing up my Italian vocabulary related to Christmas and studying about Christmas traditions in Italy.

Here's some useful Italian vocabulary, if like me, you are learning too!

Buone Feste - Happy Holidays
Buon Natale - Merry Christmas
Felice Anno Nuovo - Happy New Year
Stella di Natale - Poinsettia
Babbo Natale - Santa Claus
la renna - reindeer
la slitta - sleigh
il presepe - nativity scene
il presepe vivante - living nativity scene
il pupazzo di neve - snowman
il fiocco di neve - snowflake
il regalo - present
l'albero di Natale - Christmas tree
la vigilia di Natale - Christmas eve
luci di Natale - Christmas lights

This is, believe it or not, the top of a torte in the window of one of my favorite bakeries ( pasticceria) in Castello. Too pretty to eat!

Here's a version of the classic Christmas song, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, performed in Venetian dialect by one of my favorite local groups, Ska-J.

Buon Natale! Buone Feste!

Christmas trees, Venice style

(photo thanks to the FB group Infolirica operalibera)

 One of my favorite memories of Christmas in my "old life"  (pre-Venice days) was the annual picking out of the Christmas tree, strapping it to the top of the car, getting it home, setting it up and  decorating. Some years we cut our tree down at a tree farm. I've even had a few years when the pets knocked the whole thing down a few times and it took tying the tree to the ceiling to get it to stay upright.  That, dear readers, was nothing compared to what it takes to get the Christmas tree here in Venice.

If you wanted a live tree, the first task is to even find a place selling them. They don't have the Lions Club or Boy Scouts tree stands on every street corner.  La Serra, the greenhouse, in Castello down near the Giardini has a few. Very small ones that fit on a tabletop, or ones maybe 4 feet high that are pretty scrawny. But alive, roots and all. I don't think anything like a cut, live tree exists anywhere around here, at least I have not seen them ever. Maybe they do out on the mainland.

Besides the task of getting  a tree back to your apartment once you have bought it, you also have to consider  how you will get rid of it once the holiday is over.  Last year after Christmas someone planted their little tree in the park here in Sant'Elena. It promptly died.

Over on the Strada Nuova there is a small stand selling trees also. Same variety as those at La Serra.  I also saw some last week at Ikea in Padua, very similar sizes.  Of course, if you were buying one at Ikea a car would be required. Whenever I go to Ikea, it takes first a  train,  then a bus and finally a boat ride loaded down with all my purchases in a shopping cart to get back to Venice.  I could never manage a tree, even a 4 foot one.    

The guys in the photo above are lucky enough to have a boat to get their tree from point A to point B.  I don't have a boat, so that wouldn't work for me either.  Our first year over here, we didn't do a tree at all, because the logistics were just beyond us.  The second year, we found ourselves missing a tree so much that we hauled ourselves by bus to the mainland, bought a large fake tree in a box, and had the fun of hauling the huge box back to Venice on a dolley.  Thank goodness we only had to do that once! That was the first fake tree of my life, so you can imagine the kind of heart wrenching decision making that went into that purchase. Chalk it up to one more change this new life required.

So, while I wish for a live tree and will probably always wish for one, I don't think twice about it anymore. When it's Christmas,  Mike makes a trip downstairs to our storage area, hauls the fake tree box up to the second floor (that's 3rd floor for all my friends in the US), and puts it  together.  Voila, instant tree.  It's tall, which is great cause we have really tall ceilings.  And it's full, with lots and lots of fake branches. Also good, cause I've never been a big fan of those Charlie Brown Christmas trees.

Trees at La Serra, about 4-5 feet tall, roots and all.

A foggy day in Venice

Yesterday morning we set off for Rialto market in search of fish, more precisely sardines, for our Christmas Eve meal. The fog was thick, so thick that all the vaporettos that run up the Giudecca canal were being routed up the Grand Canal. Typical winter though, it's foggy here. Here's what the vaporetto dock at Sant'Elena looked like as we were leaving.

I disembarked at San Zaccaria, with the intention of walking the remainder of the way from St. Mark's up to Rialto.  I had no idea there was a regatta being held yesterday, so  you can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was to discover  several boats queuing up right in front of the San Zaccaria boat dock. Not your usual regatta participants either. All the boats were being rowed by Babbo Natales- and , looking a bit closer , I spotted some ....yes, that's  right, women rowers.  Brava, ragazze!!!
These photos are as good a view as I could get, through all the fog.

As I watched these women maneuvering their boats, I found myself having an Italian language discussion with myself, in my head.  I thought..if one is Babbo Natale, is two or more of them (males) Babbi Natale??  or Babbi Natali??   Is a female then a Babba Natale?? And more than one Babbe Natali??
I found myself completely in the fog... inside and out!!   So I convinced myself to give up. To satisfy myself and end the internal debate, I took it upon myself to call these female rowers "Babette ", and not worry about the plural at this time. Basta.   At least then I could get my head out of the fog.

Hmmm... Rudolfo and friend pulling....a boat, not a sleigh. Only in Venice!

I didn't have time to stick around to catch the entire regatta as I needed to get to the fish market before it closed.  The market was swarming with people, all with the same shopping list I had, evidently- fish for their holiday meals.  I bought crab, oysters and rombo. Unfortunately, not one tiny sardine left in all of Rialto to be had by the time I got there (about 10:30-11 am).

Loaded down with not only fish but a bag full of vegetables, I waited for the vaporetto at Rialto Mercato to return home. Fortunately, most of the fog had burned off.  As I waited for the #1 boat to make it's way down the Grand Canal, some of the Babbo Natale regatta racers were making their way home down the Grand Canal, post race. I had a great vantage point for photos right on the front of the dock.

Wonder if she is the Ice Queen??

As the last rower passed in front of me, I turned to my right, and caught this man also observing the rowers (see photo below) while queued up for the vaporetto.     Santa?????

A little bit more Christmas in Venice

It's not Christmas in Venice without at least a few sightings of Santa Claus..opps... make that Babbo Natale!  Santa delivers gifts to good children (but of course, only the good ones) by climbing up the balconies on rope ladders. No chimneys to climb down here in Venice. Here's a selection of a few Babbo's I spotted yesterday on my walk from Sant'Elena to Via Garibaldi.

I loved this one, looks like he's rapelling down to the window! Brave Babbo!

In addition to Babbo sightings, you can't help but know it's the Christmas season when you start seeing all the Panetone's stacked up in all the bakery windows.

And while this guy isn't quite the same as the other Babbo Natale's I've seen, I had a hard time passing -him by. This life size Babbo - well, at least my size Babbo (he's as tall as I am)- is standing in front of a shop on Via Garibaldi.  I particularly love his fur trim jacket and hat. Fits right in with winter in Venice.

 Yes, there are Christmas trees (alberi di Natale) in Venice. Not many, but you can find them. These are at the little nursery close to the Giardini vaporetto stop. Most likely you would need the vaporetto to get the tree home after buying it. Can't imagine carrying a live tree through Venice. As much as I regretted giving up having a live tree when we moved here, we did break down and by a very nice "imitation" one a couple of years ago.

I loved the red balls on this gate decoration on Sant'Elena. Note the Babbo Natale at the window ....

And finally....it wouldn't be Christmas in Venice without some Murano glass Santa sightings. This whimsical little tiny one standing only 2 inches high  is in our living room.  It's blown by Igor Balbi, a talented glassblower who has a shop near the Rialto market.

Buon Natale from our house to yours!