It’s Christmas! The days are short, the nights are long and it’s cold! Christmas: it’s our favourite time!! Christmas carols fill the air with joy and merriment; houses and shops are full of Christmas decorations. Our fridges are full of delicious food; all our favourite films are on TV and the most important thing is that schools are closed for three weeks!!! On the 8th of December Italian people begin to decorate their Christmas trees and to build the so-called “presepe” or “presepio”, a special exhibition of small model figures representing the Birth of Jesus! 

On the 24th of December it’s Christmas Eve! On that evening, Italian people gather around their tables and, while waiting for Santa Claus, they eat a lot of typical sweets like the Pandoro (a traditional yeast bread dusted with vanilla scented icing sugar), the Panettone (a cupola-shaped sweet bread loaf) and the Torrone (a nougat or confection typically made of honey, sugar, egg white, almonds or nuts)! That night Santa Claus arrives and he places presents under Christmas trees for every child. During the morning of the 25th of December children open their presents with their parents and they spend the whole day playing with their new toys!!!!