Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2015 & Buon Natale

di P.M.

La piccola osteria del gusto
Craciun Fericit
Feliz Navidad
Craciun Fericit
Buon Natale
Merry Christmas
Happy New Year 2015

Craciun Fericit Happy New Year

There are a few days left until Christmas, the magic, festive atmosphere and spiritually involves people. Everything is ready, the decorated trees, beds of all dimensions make room for themselves in home. I prepared myself too, I’m already leisurely wearing my best mask, to walk around and show the world my kindness. For me, it’s not a sacrifice to be good once a year, to deal with my conscience. For the world to see that indeed, I am sweet to order. So I am going to offer gifts, maybe to someone who doesn’t need them, but it does not matter, you must give back because this is what the rules say.

It’s Christmas, why would you want to talk to me about children who die in wars, due to illness or simply to hunger? I am not here, I cannot see them. Maybe it’s one of those dirty inventions. It’s their fault that they were born then. I have to leave you, though, I cannot handle everything, I still have to go to church and pray, you know, as people use to go here to pray at midnight. No, of course I cannot miss it. Not seeing me could make them think… to doubt my Christianity, I really can’t miss it. Who knows, maybe next year?

We’re close. In a few days maybe we’ll be playing the last act, the last scenes, and then, without a round of applause, the curtain will close… we’re giving up our costumes, we’ll be preserving the setting in boxes… we will repeat it a year from now. I don’t like Christmas, or better yet, I don’t like Christmas as we live it now, and more… in a month long attack. The indispensable condition is to wear your kindness glasses, to be good, it’s enough to even pretend, and be happy, no matter how hard it is to love, to want good for everybody. No matter what, and now… the magic starts. So we won’t feel different, starts the time we call: Happy Holidays.

The television assaults you with happy messages, showing only happy families, happy children, beauties under huge Christmas Trees, in hot, elegant houses, the soundtrack always being the same, with the hottest tracks: “White Christmas”, “You come from the stars”, “Merry Christmas”. The streets of our city become a park of lights and colors, the shops show their brightest clothes, the supermarkets are full of foods that, even if they are of a poor quality, they look because their packaging and delicatessens and then… it’s hard to go out of this trap.

… The first thought is: who do we party with? Good question, after all, after so many wears, we will as usually end up staying with our parents (last year we solemnly swore: never!) and we laugh with falsity and professionalism, like accomplished actors… The gifts??!! They are mandatory! And here is the representation of the heart. Every year, the frenetic races, the stress of indecision, the queues, the unforgiving time, the money are always little, the prices are always high, the repeated doubts, heavens, what give shall I choose for my mother-in-law? (While thinking: a bottle of poison), to my sister-in-law? (that one so knowledgeable that would deserve a giant pack of laxatives), to my girlfriend (envious, like she is, she would deserve a bottle of acid). If we think about it, we could solve everything in a pharmacy.

Look at us though, full with coloured packages, leaving so many money at the registers, with the secret hope that this year the gifts we will receive will heighten the mountain of nonrecycleable items. And.. lunches! The main stage!!!I’m bringing home enough food to feed us for a month but we will consume it in a few lunches! Our jaws will work in agitated rythms! And look at the aperitives, at the soupes, fish, meat, chees, mousse, caviar, pate, sour cream and then … dessert: baba, cannoli, marshmallows, choclate, all with rivers of wine. Total sacrifices for our wallet, for our work and for our liver.

The BREAK, in order not to stay inactive: cake??? And, after dinner, waiting the last act. Huge tables where we sit even if we don’t want to, huge tables where the bold ones play their salary at poker… groups of housewives gossiping the absent ones… unsatisfied children which are evaluating their gifts… and then the coherent ones… that get dressed in their furs and go to mass at midnight in order to maintain the facade of holiness (but even in the church, there are many perspective of sinning)… a sense of Christmas. And all these… do they deserve all this attention?

And meanwhile nothing stopped, the world moves like ever, with the aggravating circurcumstance that all this effort has the effect of exaggerating the sadness of those who are lonely, who feel bad, who don’t have a job, they will all feel like a failure because they didn’t manage to make their children smile like the ones from televisions, mothers that won’t manage to cook lunches like the ones from commercials, homeless people that will still live in carton boxes on Christmas, many children that will feel a little lonely, and maybe a little less loved because the games that were supposed to arrive didn’t.

This magic doesn’t reach Africa, not even where there is war, not in orphanages, not to sad people, not to prisons… And if… there is not magic for everybody, what kind of magic is this? And then, Jesus, I think, would wish to be born every day (no matter if it’s December of May), if they loved the other enough every time a tear dries on the face of a brother, every time we gift a smile, we offer a shoulder to a friend, every time we do our homework and every time we do everything good with the heart.

I walked there, among the stars, I closed the world out, behind me, like I used to once.. When I closed the moments of solitude… I was confronting storms, that make you shake, that break your heart… I was looking for a fix, for a word that can be said at the right moment… like it would have changed things. Today, like now… I felt that need… I felt the desire to be a bit lonely and don’t think… if I am cheated in that huge silence, I navigated through constellations and stars… without looking for anything, without asking for it.. I was accompanied by a deaf pain… that something that eats you from the inside out and you don’t know way… I was carried away by a meteor, I thought it was a star… it’s easy to be mistaken… in that darkness… it’s easy if it isn’t perfect… if you’re tired… of battle… of stories and life and death… Of love and false emotions.

The meteor was travelling fast.., maybe towards that unknown half… It told me not to follow her, it threw me away. I continued my journey… in that dark infinite… I was seeing shadows… they looked like persons… they had familiar faces… but they were disappearing… if they got to close… that deaf pain inside me… was yelling words I didn’t understand… it was accusing me of thoughts… it as pretending things… in that huge noise… through words carried away by winds… I understood that… it wasn’t my place… I want back… I thought to myself that not even the most sublime moment of quiet didn’t I find what I was looking for, that world that I was shutting out, behind me… it was there… waiting for me.

Look… I’m here… I surrender… I’m lowering my weapons… and be what it might be.. that phone that ir ringing… the voice of a good friend in a white shirt. “It was a mistake… Baggio’s provoked a huge disaster”…”which means”… smiles… The nightmare is over… make it a Happy Christmas… Everything is negative… “I didn’t find any words to say… I thought that I was a man… I didn’t shake… And I knew to keep my secret… I returned after… and I found on my pillow… a lot of small stars… a golden dust… with sweet words… that almost welcomed me back.

I don’t believe in Christmas anymore… and I am looking at the people’s hypocrite… that after smiles and handshakes they keep masking their feelings. I don’t believe in Christmas anymore… but without even wanting I made a special gift… and look at it, my Christmas, the one that opened my heart with thousands and thousands of lights… of gunfire and barrels… the one that made two tears fall out of my eyes… that made me say Happy Birthday… tall snow… reaching the knees… everything around a bright frost… that made trees as new. Climbing up, I see the panorama and two colleagues of mine that talk about football… and once in a while I look at a portion of the road heading down… waiting for someone… for a couple of hours.

I reenter the barracks… the open chimney… having someone near me… I lift my gaze… it fixates me, his eyes are not more beautiful that the ones belonging to a sadistically animal… the have a strange brightness… it alsmost implores… I did everything that was in my power to tell him… I don’t know what to tell you, whether yes or now… the man lowers his gaze and start looking at the flame of the chimney. I stay… I am following thought… and I don’t have anymore… the notion of time… an hour, two… once in a while I notice that the man… is peaceful near the fire… and then the remote breaks the silence… fourth place… the car in its vicinity… I sigh deeply… I ask for confirmation… they give it to me.

The man notices me… I look at him… the second place… I control the car… we start with the control… control done… I pass… ROGER… continue… it’s their murmur to the man… only five minute of pacience… give me your hands… I don’t want for them to see you like that.. but I wait… one more and I am putting them back on you. The man fixates me with the look… than thanks me… the car has arrived… there are four men there, a lady and a child, and I notice them from the window… meanwhile my colleagues start a new control… Everything is fine… I give my okay… The lady and the child enter in the room, nobody speaks… the two of them are looking in each other’s eyes… then they throw themselves in each other’s arms… a long hug… strong hand… which caress the face and hair… then the man approaches the child… leans over, looks at him… “I am your father” the tells him… and he takes him in his arms.

I’m looking at the scene… I have something in my throat… I look at the woman and the men… I go out of the room… I ask for all my colleagues… I tell them to get out of here… to go and enjoy the snow… the chief escort looks at me… I look at him. Somebody has to stay… the hells me… or it’s your responsibility if something happens… Nothing will ever happen, and it’s my choice anyway… and I told it in the presence of everybody… we head out to smoke a cigarette… everybody is watching me… someone gives me a pat on the shoulder.

The car leaves after approximatively two hours… the man watches from the windows… the woman sends him a kiss with the hand… the child… salutes him with his hands… I look at him too… the car disappears. The man looks at me, I look at him… two tears are falling on his face, he offers me his wrists… goes hear the fire… I tell him “this is not necessary… everything will be alright… stay calm… he will watch over them…” I go out of the room… I need fresh air and to enjoy a promise and a gift… afterall it’s Christmas… a colleague watches me… How did you manage he asks me… it was the magic of Christmas… that sometimes starts the hearts and the hearts answer… it started mine… I think, now.

I’ve always hated Christmas as a child, I hated its lights, sounds, noises, confusions, I hate caroling, the handshakes, the meeting on the streets, visiting the relatives, the cakes, I have caressing children’s heads, I hate coloring books that stay around the house until the carnival and then they are replaced with confetti.

I have the Eve dinner when you have to full yourself, then the Christmas lunch where you eat the food that was cooked a week before because otherwise you wouldn’t have managed to finish them in time. You went to look after the weirdest things to put on the tables, from chips to popcorn, things that you never eat but when it’s Christmas you put them on the table and everything is good. Wine and sparkling wine flow in rivers, the buttons of the pants and the zippers of the dresses are quietly lowered, the parents that talk and talk, and the lady of the house that goes back and forth making sure everything is alright, the children who don’t stay put for a minute and they wish they were on the table but you didn’t tell them: because it’s Christmas.

Bread-crumbs everywhere, marks left on the chair and shoe prints on the shiny floor. I detest Christmas with its decorations in unexpected places and colored table cloths. That horrible thing that is hanged on the door of the house, the tree that loses its needles after only two days. I detest the leftovers after three days. I hate the TV that shows workers on strike and the unemployed that are crying. I detest the ski resorts filled with people and the champagne bottles that pop in the hands of rich men that laugh without a worry. I have the politicians that say everything will be good. I hate Christmas because when it’s Christmas we have to be good.

As a small child, Celeste, chosen by God, brought the peace in a world of good and bad. The Christmas in Christian love, universally lived in the faith of people. As a divine child, the little king triumphed in life that does not die… In the splendor of time, he was born in a starry night, saluted by some angelical choirs, he is blessed in songs and he was born, we all say sing happily Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

To all my friends I want to with them a Happy Christmas, light lights and songs, you should all be good and without the evil. The child is born, the child that has been settled into straws between the donkey and the bull, just with a shirt. And then there is the tree with ornaments and lights, near the chimney, transmitting heat. We are without money, we only have the heart that our guarting angel brings us love.

It was nice to find myself in my home with all the people that I love, we talked, we ate around the table that I’ve prepared with ral love. With my brothers, we rememebered the serene childhood, the parents that aren’t here anymore, our lives… Now they all left… and I am tired but happy, I will soon go to bed to rest and I will think for a moment that we were children again, my father kissing me good night and the mother making the chocolate smell that she made on Christmas Morning.

It comes back every year with the hope lost between dry branches and an early winter. A tree with glow in the dark tears for a sad earth. This is a holiday for us all? If he dresses for a night that is holy, will he surround himself with punishment? Due to my sadness I can feel an uncomfortable thought, i would like peace for all even if an unconscious illusion. There, in the cold there is a world that either betrayed or dissapointed, that already fears the day of tomorrow and doesn’t thing about its gifts anymore.

Merry Christmas as they say, Merry Christmas, when the human beast does nothing except killing. Merry Christmas, sounds, they talk about love, while the angels are flying towards the heavens, helped by an absurd violence. What promises are there to make, what words can you sat to the one that has lost the reason to live, in a few moments he lost his future. Merry Christmas, pain and agony, and instead of the comet we will follow the path of the Cross. Merry Christmas!

Quick! It’s time, again, another Christmas, nother promise to be made, a promise of love, not with the lips but once again, dictated by the heart. The new life hope, the light that guide the way, the miracle that is remmebered that we are never alone. A dream, a miracle, I couldn’t say, shines the stars for all, the perfume of loce and peace fills the air around. Maybe after the magic night I will be a little bit better, it won’t just be the promise, I’ll fight for a better world.

The night came quickly, we walked a long road, now the house are just small lights. The moon that shines, the smoke on a silver band… like a way… it’s nice to look… to listen to the quiet… it’s a peaceful night. Tired I sit down… on a rock… I look further away… I have no thoughts or words to follow… the cold colored in white everything… a candor that enters the heart too.

A legend tells about a child who was born in a stall, the cold was stinging, a donkey and a bull were keeping him warm with his breath, it is told that he is the King of the Kings, and the shepherds followed a star… and they went and they adored him… it’s just a legend… nobody knows when he was really born… but anyway… this night is magical.. It’s a night of peace… I look at the stars… the look like small lights… there is no star to guide me… no… I am just listening their eternal words.

I’m listening and I keep quiet… I turn my gaze down… on my backpack that is on the ground… near a weapon… a pistol… I look at the stars again… my eyes are sparkling because of the tears… I feel like I am still hearing…those eternal words… that now say… from far away the echo of a bell comes to me… it’s midnight… he was born and I go on my knees… and I pray…

How would Christmas be without you…! It would be very sad for me. The lights in your eyes lightened in me the hope of a new love. The love of a real friendship, and I will thank you forever for your splendid friendship. I hope that under the tree you found you’re peace. I, under mine, have found you, and I didn’t imagine how important you are for me! With so many passionate wishes, I kiss you and I embrace you.

In a night I dreamt that I speak with God… in my sleep. I’ve asked him if we could visit Heaven and Hell… God made me happy… he brought me near two huge gates… and he said that I should open the one I wanted the most. I opened the first one that was… infernal… I was in a huge room, and in the middle there was a table with a huge cauldron… and in the air nice smell of food… around the tables there were hundreds of persons… they were all very thin… with a darkened face… they all had in their hand a spoon with a long handle, so long they couldn’t manage to take it to their mouths. I asked..

God, who are those… and god answered me they are the bosses of the government, the ministry, the businessmen, the banchers, the ones who only think about themselves. I open another door now, and there was a huge room, and in the middle there was a cauldron that smelled very good of food, and there, around the tables there were hundreds of persons, but they were fat, chubby, and they had the same spoon with a long handle in their hand. God, I asked, who are these people?

God said, they are pure souls… the one that worked to earn their bread… and I asked about the handle of the long spoon and I didn’t understand how did they manage to eat… and God said… it’s simple… each one eats with the spoon of the other one… This was taught to me by a good man… whom I had the honor to meet. I made another mistake. From this story I understood my error, and from that day forward I made a promise to myself to don’t make mistakes again. Happy birthday! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! To anyone who read… and reflected. Merry Christmas!

Oh God, the one that looks at us form over there, we don’t hear your voice now. Join us! Govern us! In this world that you created, we cry because of so many things now! I love you, God, like many others, but we are few, very few! We made so many streets, so many perverted roads, ambiguous, incoherent mazes so we won’t ever be able to get out. God, return amongst us and show us your way and we will follow you! A star will come down and you, God, will come among us. God, return amongst us and show us your way and we will follow you.

You gave life to the blind people, you’ve forgiven thieves, of God, you have forgiven more than once, forgive us for we have sinned. That morning shining with happiness, painted by the aurora, he was born and grew up poor, from the Virgin Mary and the Joseph, the supposed father. We life the holy Christmas in dignity, peace and joy, Born for love, he lived and died for redemption of the world. Christmas joy for young and old people! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Merry Christmas!

A holy man asks God if he can visit the Inferno and Paradise, and if it’s possible, I prefer the happy ending. God shows him to two closed doors, he opens the first one. In the center of the room there was a round table and a cauldron that was smelling delicious. But the persons who were around the table were skeletons. Each of them had in their hands a big spoon. They sink it down in the cauldron to take food but he doesn’t manage to take it to its mouth because the handle was larger than the arm.

What torture, the holy man thought, pitying the evil ones… You’ve just seen hell, God tells to him, and opens the second door and that is Paradise. In the middle of the room there was a round table. In the middle of the table there was a cauldron that smelled the same. The people had the same type of spoon, but none of them managed to close it to their mouth. Yet, they were still well fed. “I don’t understand” says the man.

“It’s simple” says God. “In hell, everybody dies of hunger because they only think of themselves. Meanwhile, in Paradise, they are all happy because they eat with each other’s spoon.

The holydays are pain! A joy! We are happy for half of these days and you can feel the nostalgia. Our friends, the dear ones, even if we don’t see them with the eyes, they are always in my heart. The holidays awaken small and large pains. The lights help and scares away the melancholia, the joy of the children, who look bewitched at the colored window-shops, leaving on the glass their breaths, and there they put their desires for the fantastic Santa Claus!

There comes love, the blinding light, like the sun, that illuminates the day and scares the life’s shadows away. An incomparable painter, he paints the scenes of a lovely story with two hearts as protagonists. As an unequaled composer, sublime symphonies to thrill our loving souls. There comes love, which makes you fly, beyond the sky, in infinite spaces, where there are no words like “you” and “I”, there is only “Infinite” and “us”. Merry Christmas!

A happy new year, to you, the one that is lonely. A happy new year, to you, the one that is sad. A happy new year, to you, the one that found your half. A happy new year, to you, the one who is happy. I hope the New Year will bring you happiness and pairs to all the sad and lonely persons. And for all of us, and for all of us, a happy new year, everybody! May the next year bring you satisfaction, affection and taste!

Merry Christmas!