Christmas and Santa and gypsies and dachshunds and Rome

On this Christmas Eve the little Santa's Dachshunds Nicky and Nora spoke to Santa and I got an iPhone 5, so finally after 25 years of Nokia simple cel phone graduating to the big league and I can now like everyone else constantly look at my phone and just ignore the world as it hurls itself into whatever.

Clever little puppies they are, so many times we have said we would give them away to the Gypsies of the Via Nomentana in Rome. So they surprised me, I did not have the heart to put them on the Alitalia flight Ottawa Rome. A little bribe goes a long way as they say, I suppose I will keep them for a while longer. They will be 6 years old in February 2015. I am just KIDDING. I would never send them out on the street.

Wonderful dinner on this Xmas Eve with some nice wines, the weather is very mild almost Spring like, very strange for a 24 December, this is the sort of weather we are use to in Rome in Winter at night.

Another gift which was a nice surprise was my Italian Police cap which can only be had if you are in the Carabinieri which is the equivalent of the RCMP in Canada. The yellow colour of the insignia is for Officers, I got it through our friends in Rome, Gail and Mariano. The insignia of the Corps is a flaming grenade. it is a para-military corps of Police. http://www.carabinieri.it

Carabinieri on patrol in Rome

for the bicentennial of the Carabinieri in 2014 their new Highway car a Lotus Evora S. Very stylish!

We also had a wonderful dinner at home nice smoke Salmon from the Pacific and roast Lamb with roast potatoes. Our dessert was a Bûche de Noël.

The weather being dreadful, rain, +3C and wind prefer to stay at home and enjoy our home comforts.

Some photos of our Christmas Eve table 2014.

The Hunting Scene Dishes, hand painted by Crown Staffordshire that we have used for such occasions for the last 38 years. Must be all washed by hand.
We also used the Holme Gaard Copenhagen glasses bought decades ago in Denmark.

Chateau PuyFromage, a bordeaux and Tantinel a Prosecco bought are new to the LCBO and very good. We also had a bottle of dessert wine Chateau La Croix Poulvère.

Now I have to play with my new iPhone and program it. Learn out to use it. A quiet Christmas day and tonight dinner with friends at Le Café on the Canal.