Let me take you back to the Roman Christmas my family had. David had taken students to spend the fall semester in Rome and the children and I were to fly over and meet him for Christmas.  The apartment he had that time was spacious and elegant, but rather noisy as it was high over a busy intersection.  Those of you who have visited Rome, know there is an endless shrieking  siren sound , day and night.

David had bought a lovely live tree and put a garden of poinsettias under it. There was lots of candy from the Piazza Navona Christmas market. As we walked around the city getting reacquainted with memorable places from past visits, we noticed next to no decorations, no lights of the trees or over the streets,  no wreaths etc.  Not a one of the many Christmas displays so prevalent in the United States. (This…