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Santa Claus Blues

Raising money for families

By Caterina BargioniPublished about a year ago 3 min read
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These are some of the many gifts we have already managed to buy and wrap that will soon be dropped off at the food bank!!

Hi Vocal Readers🎄 !

I am currently sat at my desk typing away at this article, sipping tea and attempting to simultaneously wish everyone that I know a Merry Christmas in the form of various Christmas cards all scattered - and slightly haphazardly piled up - around me.

While doing this however I am currently reflecting on the fact that not everyone this year will get a Merry Christmas. Some people might not even get a Christmas at all.

That is why I’m raising money to buy Christmas presents for families who can’t afford them for their kids. Especially if they have younger kids who still believe in Santa and will think they’ve been so naughty Santa didn’t bring them any gifts or might wonder if Santa forgot about them!

That’s why to raise awareness and cheer I decided to do a little break down of the differences between the two Christ masses I know: English ones and Italian ones!

First of all, perhaps the most obvious difference is that in Italy presents are opened on the evening of the 24th after a delicious and extremely filling meal, while of course in England, presents are opened on the morning of 25th. Also during the run up to Christmas Italians will often also make a ‘presepe’ which is a vignette of sorts showing the journey of the wise men to Jesus, at first the little statue of baby Jesus is hidden somewhere and the wise men are placed on the other side of the presepe to Mary and Joseph in the barn. As each day passes, the wise men are moved slightly closer until it is finally Christmas and they have arrived at the barn. On Christmas the little statue of Baby Jesus is finally added to the scene - if you can find it that is (one, slightly embarrassing, year my family lost the baby Jesus statue and had to buy another one). Another major difference is the food; when Christmas is celebrated in Italy there is no such thing as the beloved English ‘figgy pudding’. In Italy instead families will eat a sweet cake of sorts called ‘pannetone’ which I personally find is incredibly hard to describe, though I will try my best, it is not round, it is more of a hexagonal shape and tall with a soft, almost brioche-like texture, it can have all sorts of sweet foods can be added to it, however most commonly there will be raisins in it. A more kid-preferred Christmas food is called ‘pandoro’ which is very similar to pannetone however it does not contain raisins and comes with packets of icing sugar which kids love to open and pour on top of it - essentially dousing the entire cake. If you live near an Italian Deli and like trying new things, I highly recommend you jump down there and try a pandoro (which I personally prefer to pannetone as a big believer that raisins are the epitome of lacklustre food)!

Back to the topic at hand of my raising of money!

For the distribution of presents I have partnered with my local food bank to distribute the gifts to all the families in need this Christmas!

I would really appreciate it if you could donate or spread the word, it really doesn’t have to be a lot, even a pound can make a massive difference for someone this Xmas! As they say, a little goes a long way, and I think this can really turn around some people’s Xmas’!

The photo I have starched at the top of this piece is a picture of some of the presents we (my family and I) have managed to buy and wrap so far thanks to many kind donations from people!

Here is the link to the JustGiving page where you can donate if you would like, alternatively it would also be great if you could send the link to people you know and spread the word around:

Merry Xmas Vocal reader!

Wishing you the very best, Caterina :)

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About the Creator

Caterina Bargioni

Hi, I’m Caterina and I love writing stories and am currently working on a book!

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  • Caterina Bargioni (Author)about a year ago

    Hi hope you enjoyed the article!

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