I kissed the devil

Wonderful thing for Friday, 20 January:

Okay, this is "wonderful" and "fun" together, because whenever you talk about children, it's both, unequivocally.

I have never seen so many cute kids together in all my life!  Not true.  Whenever our family has been together, there's no contest on cute kids.  That said, the one thing to like about Carnevale is all these adorable little people in quaint and charming costumes.

Our ward had a Carnevale festa for the kids.  I know, it's kind of like having a ward Halloween party...doesn't make a lot of sense if you really think about it.  There was Buzz Lightyear, the cutest witch I've ever seen, an elf, Charlie Chaplin, the "Corpse Bride", two Superman(s), "Wonder Dude", Princes Merida (the child even had wavy auburn hair), Pebbles, ... I know there were more - and yes, Alessia and Diletta, two of our Young Women, were a princess and a devil; and true to Italian form, I kissed them both.

Setting aside the slightly bizarre idea of a ward Carnevale party, it was just one more opportunity for some much-needed fellowship.  Dear Sister Betty DeRobertis, who's in charge of such goings on, is always up for a party.  There were confetti ribbons everywhere and party streamers hung from the ceiling (thanks to Blaine on a ladder).  We watched some fun games, and even partook in some - have you ever tried to move an egg with a slab of styrofoam, without touching it (the idea is to create wind)?  There was music the entire evening.  "A wonderful time was had by all."

And another wonderful thing:

Our new Institute presidency.  We still have Ivan as the president, and Andrea as the secretary, with Elton (newly returned missionary) and Matteo (newly baptized member) as assistants.  We had a presidency meeting, and feel encouraged.  Time for a fresh look at things, time to ameliorate.  Love those Italian-derived words - okay, Latin-derived - close enough.

And another fun thing:

I made a "flourless orange saffron cake".  Perfect.  Yummy.  Yay!  For some reason it means a lot to me that people like what I bring.  To make it, I had to put two [yummy Sicilian] oranges in the microwave, covered, till they were tender and exuding juice, then puree them.  There's something I don't do every day!