Brandon and I drove Katrina to work at 10am, then headed to IKEA. We were told they had gingerbread house kits. We didn't find any, so we bought a bag of meatballs and lingonberry sauce. We also stopped at the Christmas market in Monza to pickup Christmas gifts for Rosella, our Italian teacher, and our portania's (front gate/door people). Brandon also bought a pretzel from the German booth. The man at the booth recognized Brandon from previous visits. He knew what Brandon wanted and gave him a 1 euro discount.
This afternoon Brandon and I hung out at home. I cleaned up the house and worked on laundry. Brandon played on the computer and worked one part of his homework. Yes, he has homework over the Christmas break.
We received this picture of our nephews from my sister Brooke. Tanner and our newest nephew Gavin. Aren't they cute!
It's been snowing for the last two hours. It started out very light, but now its coming down pretty heavy.
What an evening we had. I should say, what a long night we had. We had a 4:30pm vet appointment for Stevie in Brugherio. We need to make sure he stays up to date on all shots so that there are no problems when we return to the US. Brandon and I left the house at 3:30, allowing an hour to reach the vet. It should take about 20 - 30 min on a normal day, but we left early. We had to cut across Parco di Monza. I should have had a clue at this point, but I thought it wasn't that bad out. Everyone here drives VERY carefully when there is snow on the ground. There wasn't much at this point, but people were already driving very slowly.
Long story made short, I talked to the Vet on the phone at 5pm and rescheduled for next Monday. We were already a half hour late and still 3 km away. So, we changed plans and headed to ST to pickup Katrina. We finally passed through Brugherio around 6pm. The traffic was so bad and it was snowing pretty heavily.
ST was about 8 km (4.8 miles)from where we were in Brugherio. According to the clock and stats on our GPS, we averaged 2 km per hour and finally arrived at ST just after midnight, at 12:05am. We took a different route home and found only empty snowy roads, arriving home at 12:40am.
So, I had an 8 year old and a cat in the car for 9 hours while driving/sitting 14 km to ST and 12 km back home = about 13 miles. Stevie was quiet the entire time...well, until Katrina got in the car, then he moewed a bit. Brandon had his latest Harry Potter and read, talked, napped, and played with the snow on the windows. I mostly listened to the radio and talked to Katrina several times, when the cell network wasn't overloaded. Brandon and I both complained a few times, but overall I must commend Brandon (and Stevie) for being extremely patient.
When we finally arrived home we were hungry and tired. We hadn't had any dinner. We made some bean burritos and went to bed. Brandon decided he wanted to take a shower. I think it helps him decompress sometimes.
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