L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2024 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 2 F rom Thanksgiving to Christmas, the leap feels almost i n s t a n t a n e o u s . T i m e s e e m s t o race faster with every passing y e a r , a n d D e c e m b e r f e e l s shorter and shorter. A hun- dred tasks to juggle, a hun- dred thoughts swirling. Morn- i n g s d i s a p p e a r i n a b l u r , a f t e r n o o n s v a n i s h j u s t a s quickly, and days that dragged in November now sprint toward the most dazzling midnight of the year. Frenetic days filled with twinkling lights, home decorations, and festive shop windows blend into the daily grind—gift lists to tick off, last-minute office deadlines to meet—until suddenly, the year is ending. A flood of thoughts, a flood of memories. How much heavier must the anticipation of the holidays have been for Italian emigrants who crossed the ocean without looking The wait for Christmas, emigrants, and nostalgia for home From the Editor back, never returning after that first, interminable voyage that opened a world of promise and unforeseen challenges. How many wished they could go back, undo their departure, or at least make the occasional journey home, to the place where aging parents, childhood friends, and familiar land- scapes waited. Where the house, the village square, the church, and a lifetime of toil were inseparable from their memories. The early years in America were far from easy. Grueling work in mines, laying railroad tracks, unloading crates of fish with frozen hands in the morning, stamping tin cans in factories, arranging apples and zucchinis at market stalls with a forced smile for every customer while their bodies ached with exhaustion. Bosses barking orders in a language that never felt like their own, raising shop shutters sur- rounded by unfamiliar faces and wary stares. Christmas came without the scent of freshly baked bread on the kitchen table or the simple desserts rationed out dur- ing the holidays, rich with flavors that carried them back to another time. Without those rough, weathered walls, always seeming ancient, and the sparse furniture shared by too many people. In the village, Christmas meant mass in the cold, where candlelight warmed hearts, eyes met in quiet humility, and prayers were offered for a new year generous to the fields. Tomorrow, I'll send some money home—to help Mama buy a trousseau for little Maria, medicine for Grandma Antonia, and to make Papa proud so he can boast about his son in America, where everyone seems to thrive, and life is nothing like here, in this poor village where dreams wither and survival is earned in sweat. If only they knew the reali- ty: the hardship, the exploitation, the lump in the throat, the coins that don't rain from the sky, and the weight of loneliness under this gray, foreign sky, colder than the one at home, where solitude was unknown. And yet, even in that little village, within those walls steeped in time and simplicity, Christmas was no longer the same. In that now quieter house, eyes often lingered on an empty chair, mornings spent at the window waiting for a postman who never came, and that one letter, carefully tucked in the drawer, read a thousand times over, each reading stirring new thoughts and old memories. It weighed heavily on the heart as warm tears silently fell. Nothing had been the same since that piece of their heart left, taking their youth and hope with them. Even with daily chores as the only allowed distraction, thoughts always returned to that faraway child. A ladle of soup at the bottom of the pot was always set aside for him. Was he doing well? Did he live in a clean, spacious house? Did the bright city lights illumi- nate endless crowded streets like the stars filled the warm summer skies at home? Harvest after harvest, winter after winter. Weddings, births, aches, and more springs. The years slipped by. Some returned with news from faraway lands. The village grew older and emptier, while the skyscrapers multiplied across the ocean. So much had changed—friends lost, lives lived. Every Christmas brought its prayers and hopes, each holi- day hiding, amidst its lights, a distant and blurry face. Next year, I'll return home. Will they still recognize me? I'll bring something for everyone—a suitcase full of gifts. Yes, he wrote it—next year, he'll come back. Next year, I'll finally hold him in my arms again. Simone Schiavinato, Editor Simone Schiavinato NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS Member of FUSIE (Federazione Unitaria Stampa Italianaall'Estero), COGITO L'Italo-Americano Please send correspondence to P.O. BOX 6528, ALTADENA, CA 91003 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano Newspaper (a 501(c)(3) non- profit organization), www.italoamericano.org, is the largest and longest-running Italian news- paper in America, not to mention the cultural and news resource for all things Italian in the US. A bilingual newspaper which represents an historical landmark for the Italian American Communities in the West Coast and throughout the US. L'Italo-Americano benefits from subsidies by the Italian Government, Memberships and Donations intended to support and not interrupt a mission that began in 1908 to preserve and promote the Italian language and culture in the USA Periodicals postage paid at Monrovia, California 91016, and additional mailing offices. PUBLISHER Robert Barbera Grande Ufficiale EDITOR IN CHIEF Simone Schiavinato ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER Patrick Abbate EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Barbara Minafra COPY EDITOR Francesca Bezzone LOS ANGELES CONTRIBUTOR Silvia Nittoli SAN FRANCISCO CONTRIBUTOR Serena Perfetto SEATTLE CONTRIBUTOR Rita Cipalla CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mariella Radaelli, Matt Walker, Francesca Bezzone, Luca Ferrari, Stefano Carnevali, Paula Reynolds, Teresa Di Fresco Nicoletta Curradi, Generoso D'Agnese, Jessica S. Levy, Fabrizio Del Bimbo, Maria Gloria, Chuck Pecoraro, Anthony Di Renzo Serena Perfetto, Kenneth Scambray, Chiara D'Alessio, Luca Signorini, Giulia Franceschini © 2024 L'Italo-Americano Membership: One year $59 - Single copy $2.25 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to L'Italo Americano PO Box 6528 Altadena, CA 91003 Selling Homes Throughout The Bay Area Adele Della Santina "The Right Realtor makes all the di昀erence." 650.400.4747 Adele.DellaSantina@compass.com www.AdeleDS.com DRE# 00911740 Expert in preparation, promotion, and negotiation!

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