Sources in America tell us that while the rest of the world has been focused on the impending election, in the United States itself, sellers of all things Christmas are staging a covert operation to take over the month of September. The month that used to belong to Labor Day and Back-to-School is being rededicated to holiday shopping as attested by floods of Christmas snail mail catalogs that are filling the postal boxes of our American eCool correspondents. Mamma Mia!
Now, to be totally honest, though we sympathize, we at the eCool compound can’t relate at all. For one thing, mail in Rome doesn’t flood — it trickles. Occasionally. At the whim of the postal worker. There are days when the citofano or buzzer rings and a representative of Posta Italiana alerts us to the fact that a piece of post has arrived. We can’t remember the last time that happened, but a quick survey of the room suggests that it has happened at some time in the distant past. Where does all the mail go? We take comfort in knowing that Italian postal workers may be hoarding it in their homes, keeping it safe and sound in their living rooms, as did a postal worker some years ago when a back injury prevented her from actually delivering the mail. Probably, our mail is properly sorted and being safely kept….somewhere….we count on that.
And then there’s the matter of catalogs. We would sell our souls for catalogs. While we’re perfectly aware that Americans find themselves drowning in stacks of catalogs from retail outlets nationwide (and we’re equally aware that catalogs are a colossal waste of trees — that troubles us), there’s a certain allure to the idea of drinking a cup of coffee on a lazy Saturday morning while flipping through an slick catalog chock-full of things we don’t really want. This is not to say that catalogs don’t exist in Italy. Once a year or so, we walk out of our building and find that there’s a stack of Ikea catalogs there for the taking. It’s a day that provokes much excitement. Usually, every single member of the eCool team lays claim to their own catalog, enthusiastically flipping through and imagining how their home environment could be improved if only they would embark on a day-long odyssey to the Swedish big box store. Of course, the thought of taking a bus to the metro, then the metro to another bus, and that bus to Ikea usually puts a damper on such domestic dreams, but those same dreams are reignited each and every time the Ikea catalog falls open.
So, unlike Americans, who may already be feeling a bit postal about Christmas, we’ve no thoughts of the holiday whatsoever. But, for those of you who are already planning menus and mentally decorating the tree, then this post’s for you! We read with enthusiasm a blog entry by PhDiva about archaeological Christmas ornaments and then did a bit of searching of our own. We’ve discovered that a company called Bronner’s, in Michigan, makes elaborate Christmas ornaments to suit every taste — including that of Rome-antics like yourselves. So, if you want a bit of the Eternal City on your Christmas tree this year (or Pisa or Venice), click on over to Bronner’s and place an order.
