Christmas Day in Opera

Very, very nice to spend Christmas Day with my parents and brother, Sean, in Opera, Italy!

We woke up... made coffee, ate some Pandoro (similar to Panettone but plain)... and opened presents together.

I already blogged about the

 My [new!] Little Ponies,

which Dad picked up... 

...he also hilariously got Sean the wrestling figurines that

were thrown out at the same time... I love it!

The ponies are now safely displayed in my school library...

...awaiting kiddos to play with them!

Mom did really well packing a ton of gifts to bring along with her from the States. ...And thank you to Grandma Sharpe and Aunt Gail for sending gifts along too! It was really nice to receive special things in Italy... and now I can wear/use them and think of family back home.

We went to Robert and Mary's house for dinner that night. Their house is the one that has great get-togethers with music in the living room! 

Dinner was wonderful... the company was even better. It was a beautiful holiday with my family and new friends.   : )

My [new!] Little Ponies

When I was little (very little!)... I guess my brothers and I were told to each clean up our rooms.

When we didn't get to the cleaning soon enough, we were then told that our rooms needed to be cleaned up by a certain time...

...and if they were not clean by that time... my mom and dad would clean them (clean them OUT) for us!

I know it doesn't sound like me... BUUUUT... I guess I didn't clean up my room by that time!

The part I remember about that day the most is: when my mom and dad cleaned out my room... they got rid of all of my My Little Ponies.

: (  Super-Sad-Face.

I don't remember fully... but I do surely hope that I learned my lesson from that incident! I was crushed.

Similar to this incident... is the Bunny Story... if you know my dad or have heard some of his stories (he is my favorite storyteller of all time!)... then perhaps you have heard this true story about my favorite stuffed bunny when I was little (very little!).

I won't write about the Bunny Story here... but let's just say that it taught me a lesson... a harsh lesson... kind of like the disappearance of my My Little Ponies. (And I still think the Bunny Story was created over an accident on my part... buuuut maybe that's just my memory, right Dad?!)

Overall - and the reason for this post - I guess my dad has felt badly about getting rid of my My Little Ponies and about the Bunny Story... I'm ok with all of it... but I do love what he did for me recently and it surely made me laugh -->

Having a Skype date with my parents... THIS is what I saw when the call first picked up:

Hahahaha... those are screenshots of the beginning of our Skype date. This is the first time I haven't seen my dad upside-down while Skyping! (That's our usual Skyping pose with each other, haha.)

My parents stopped by a neighbor's yard sale... and my dad bought these for me! Hahahaha... Oh my. I love it. He's going to bring them to Italy when they come in December... and I plan to put them in the library for the kids to have fun with.

I LOVE YOU DAD!   XOXO