Christmas Toy

This is Michael.  Look at the toy Jeremy and Florence made me for Christmas!

It is about 10" by 7" by 3", made from a food storage container, and wallpapered with the wrapping paper I teased them with last year.

It comes with many useful features.  For example, it plays music:

If you get tired of the audio, you can watch the pretty lights instead:

Did you catch that message?  That is OK, it is just a taunt.  It seems likely that I will get further with the information on the DVD.  You saw that eject button, right?

Too bad the information under the help function is so thin!

Serious kudos to Jeremy for assembling this from scrap electronics.  He had to use imagination and perseverance to mount the components in a non-standard platform, not to mention designing the electronics and program!

Michael

Presepe...pronto!

Last weekend, I finally put together the presepe! We have moved its location to the upper landing, since our downstairs neighbors (who come intermittently and unpredictably) complained vociferously last year about our having co-opted all the space for our uses (fair enough!).

Leaving our front door

The shepherd and sheep in the hills!

The cave all ready for Mary and Joseph

Villagers

Joseph, Mary, and donkey: "Are we almost there??"

A little further to go!

But there's a musician to help you on the way...

Love,

Alexandra

Winterland Progress

Things in the Piazza are just moving along beautifully! We now have a garden (complete with grass!), a little bridge over what looks like a planned pond, a skating rink with some ice, and more!

The covered bridge has a painting of Consolazione

The rink goes around the Christmas tree!

Life-sized figures for the world's biggest presepe...all the way from Viterbo!

Seeing these drive up the main road cracks me up

For moving mulch. And trees.

Love,

Alexandra

Winter Wonderland, version 2.0.17

There are fabulous things afoot in the Piazza this year for Christmas! The lights are already up throughout town, pending illumination on December 8 (the feast of the Immaculate Conception). However, the new activist group, LOOP, has even more elaborate plans than last year's ice rink. Rumor has it that this year will have an ice skating loop, with an internal garden and a bridge. So far, there are admittedly no signs of an ice rink, so that may be erroneous.

However, garden, there will certainly be!

They have brought in enormous trunk sections, rocks, greenery, and intriguing scaffolding. Here's how it's shaping so far:

Will keep you posted as it progresses!

Love,

Alexandra