Christmas at the Caputis

Time differences and body clocks do funny things. At 4am I couldn't sleep, and at 9am I couldn't keep my eyes open, but when I did manage to force them open it was Christmas morning and I was in Buffalo.

Our first stop was at the apartment where Brendan was stressing over his Christmas gift to us. He and Rachelle had lovingly made Cherry Ripe slice for us, a Christmas staple in our family, but one we were going to miss out on by not being home. He thought it was too runny, but it turned out to be just fine. We spent the rest of the morning trying to knock off a few jobs - fix the bathroom door, the pantry light, the printer connection, the shower curtain, and other assorted tasks - before we headed off to a typical Italian Christmas dinner (about 3pm) at the Caputi's. It consisted of delicacies like pasta, meatballs, sausage, salad, and several other dishes I've forgotten the proper name of. We introduced them to plum pudding and custard - just how do you describe plum pudding ("I can't taste the plums", and custard is an unknown quantity)? They all approached it warily, but we were more reassured by the surprised voices saying that it was actually really nice.

Then came the desserts - cassata, lemon meringue pie, and others, followed by coffee and tea. Lots of talking and more eating before a round of presents. The kids headed off to the airport to pick up Freya - the first friend to fly in, and it was nice to catch up with her for a while before we headed off back to the motel, and the kids headed off to see a late session of the Hobbit.