{Our 2012 Christmas Eve Dinner at Ristorante da Maria}

For both of us, it has more or less become a tradition to have our Christmas Eve dinner at Ristorante da Maria. Lady Chef Maria Runggaldier, from Bolzano, Italy is the best Chef in the region and she makes a delicious five course dinner from authentic Italian recipes. Everything fresh and made from scratch; you feel pampered when dining there. Heinz will pour you the best wines as he is very knowledgeable and it makes us feel like we are back 'home' in northern Italy where we used to work and live... Fond memories!

Yep, my eyes sparkle with glee... Happy  to be together!

Since we were going to midnight Mass at Church afterwards, we had a Church friend join us.

She made these photos with my iPhone.

Toasting with a hot cider, which felt great on a cold and rainy day...

Crispy bread to nibble on and this is the hot cider.

Appetizer:

Quiche agli asparagi e prosciutto

Asparagus – prosciutto Quiche, served with herbed olive oil crostini  

First dish:

Risotto con pere al chardonnay

Risotto with Bartlett pears, Chardonnay and cream, topped with basil

Fish-Entrée: 

Gratîn di capesante e gamberi su vellutata di zucchini ed olio d´oliva

Gratîn of Scallops and Shrimp over a zucchini/olive oil veloutée  

Sorbet:

Sorbetto alle pesche

Peach/Lemon Sorbet

I already drank from it, as I forgot to take a picture first...

Maria also makes the BEST Sorbets!

Dessert:

Sorpresa di natale

Christmas surprise

Such dessert I cannot let go... for once forgetting my no-sugar diet!

Church friend Barbara enjoyed it too.

Pieter's espresso cup is smiling at you...

A great dinner with a decaf coffee for me to round it off.

Lady Chef Maria always prepares three different Entrée choices.

♥

It was the perfect food for making us sing out loud at midnight Mass.

Of course, next day we did not have another five-course dinner!

Hope you also had great food for your special Christmas time with your loved ones.

Related link:
{Buon Natale - Our Christmas Eve Dinner at Ristorante da Maria} previous post by me
Ristorante da Maria link to the authentic Italian restaurant

{Humble Gifts of the 1950s}

Which makes a child more happy? Loads of toys, gadgets and candy; or a simple gift that is given with lots of LOVE? Looking back onto my own childhood, I do remember many warm and fuzzy moments. One of them was when Dad took all of us on a Sunday in December, to a local restaurant where he sang with all the choir members. The PROTECTRESS (wife of one of the wealthy Chairmen) of the 'Horster Mannenkoor', male choir, gave each year, to all children of the choir members, a bag with candy and a thick orange. That was quite a treat for us. At that time children got no candy. The sugar consumption was still not so drastically high...

Here we walked just home on that Sunday in 1957. I was almost 6 years old (I'm to the right).

Sister Diny nibbles on her Spekkie = Marshmallow in a double diamond shape.

Martin is eating maybe a caramel and the stick of his lollipop peaks through the bag...

Little brother Piet is like me, still holding on to the entire bag of sweets.

We also got given an orange into our hands by the PROTECTRESS, that was very special, the smell alone was great as we seldom got any oranges at home.

We had to walk all to town = almost 2 km or 1 mile 427 yards, one way.

Baby Harry in the carriage... Two siblings not yet born.

This photo is taken in front of the chicken barn, away from the house.

Earlier in April of 1957, I was playing with my doll and the doll carriage that Diny and I had to share.

We usually got some clothes for Saint Nicholas but no sweets and very few toys.

Dad hand made for brother Martin, a beautiful wooden truck trailer, as he had to live frugal with his large family. So they only bought the truck, without trailer. 

Each evening after supper, when the little ones went to bed, Dad went to his work bench in the barn part of the house. There was no heat, nothing... His fingers must have turned blue from cold. But proudly it sat there, for my brother Martin as a complete gift on Saint Nicholas day.

That is giving with LOVE! My Parents, and no doubt many others at that time, gave all they could afford but always keeping in mind that it was not about the volume of gifts but about loving and caring for their children. How much have they sacrificed themselves? There were no luxuries at that time...

Do you have similar childhood memories?

Certainly several countries are still living like that because there are no means for giving that much.

The question remains would that be better? 

I learned to be grateful for very little! 

Some thoughts for Santa Claus...

Related link:

{Saint Nicholas | Sinterklaas} previous post by me

{Our Mouth Blown Glass Nativity}

For many countries in Europe, and also Canada, there are TWO official holidays for Christmas. Here in the USA it is only ONE... Would love to know about South America, Africa, Asian countries etc. if they also observe a 2nd official holiday. Therefore I love to show you our tiny, and very special  Mouth Blown Glass Nativity with strips of silver. We got this from dear friend Ellie, from a Dutch 'Wereld Winkel' where they sell so called Fair Trade items. 

Here it is, shown on our unique silk brocade table cloth that husband Pieter did bring back from his trip to China. He went there for Campbell Soup in the People to People Citizen Ambassador Program.

People to People Citizen Ambassador Programs 

May our Prince of Peace be with us ALL!

Related link:

{Silk Brocade for our PRINCE OF PEACE} my previous post