A thick layer of snow falls in early December. It gives the already unique silence here something magical: we are in a true winter wonderland. It is cold, yes, last night it was -8. But with the thermostat at a pretty nice 17 degrees and with the wood stove on, we are still pleasantly warm. The crackling of the fire and the view of that beautiful white world puts us in the Christmas spirit.

It appears to be a tradition, at least in our valley, that neighbors bring each other presents in the run-up to Christmas. We now have a whole pile of presents here (also from Holland) that we will open on Christmas Eve.

Of course, we also go out ourselves to buy and deliver presents. This week we are in a flower shop in Cairo Montenotte. It is chock full of Christmas arrangements and plants. Movement is actually impossible without knocking over something or stepping on something. A queue appears behind us all the way to the outside. We are lucky to have only one customer in front of us. The owner - like a true Italian - cannot be deterred from her (Christmas) piece. She takes all the time to advise her customer, occasionally dives under the counter to choose a nice ribbon and answers phone calls on the speaker (also very Italian!) in between. We wait quietly; piano, piano; it's Italy. But suddenly there appears la madre, well into her eighties, but clearly young enough to assist my daughter. She beckons us enthusiastically and we hand her the Amaryllis bulb we have selected. A suitable gift, we think, because the neighbors it is intended for only use natural products (so Christmas pieces with plastic balls or a huge Christmas cake with unhealthy ingredients are not the right choice for them). The Amaryllis bulb is expertly processed la madre wrapped in beautiful Christmas paper. My daughter, who seemed very concentrated on the Christmas piece for her customer, turns out to have an eye for what is happening next to her. This results in her taking 'our' Amaryllis bulb from her mother with the words: "scusami mamma, but these are Dutch people and they are used to a multitude of flowers and greenery, this is really not possible." We still shout “it's beautiful, don't do anything about it anymore” but our bulb has already been unpacked and is slowly disappearing between the Christmas branches that she attaches to the bulb with a glue gun. She also sticks pine cones on it and finally sprays the now gigantic Christmas piece with an anything-but-natural Christmas spray! … Sander and I look at each other, we praise mother and daughter exuberantly; “siete artiste” and rush to the garden center for flower bulbs for the upstairs neighbors. The Christmas piece is now on the table of our other neighbors.

With Christmas in sight, the end of the year is of course also approaching. A moment to look back at what has happened and been achieved. In January we expanded our family with Bernese Mountain Dog Noor. A 1.5 year search. Never before have we wanted two dogs, but here with all that space and the fact that our Dasti is getting a year older (we can't imagine not having a dog) makes us decide to look for a puppy. And what a party it is with those two. Dasti had to swallow, it wasn't love at first snout, but now there is nothing as wonderful as 'un abbraccio insieme'.

The beautiful season that started early in April with (returning) guests and also with the coming and going of family and friends. It is wonderful to share this beautiful, special place with others and to see everyone so visibly enjoying what is there.

We are very happy that we can finally start the renovation of the Rustico this year and add it to our range as a fully-fledged third holiday home from next year. Three to four people have been working non-stop since September and with results; the new roof is on it, the walls have been restored in pietra, the plumber has installed the new pipes and the electricity is largely ready. We are now in the finishing phase: plastering is taking place inside and then, as soon as the new windows have been installed, tiling can take place. It will be a picture in combination with that unique place on Pian del Nasso; on a hill overlooking the surrounding fields, the Rustico promises to provide our guests with unforgettable holiday moments.

We are very proud and happy that last month we were finally able to launch our new website, www.piandelnasso.com, with more user-friendliness when booking, an extensive description and display with current photos of the furnishings of our holiday homes and a lot of information about the nature and what there is to do on and near Pian del Nasso.

This Christmas we were invited again, together with our neighbors Gino, Carlo and Olga, by our dear neighbors Franca & Gianpiero for a delicious Christmas lunch. This will then be fasted again for days. We wish everyone from Pian del Nasso a very nice and merry Christmas and a great new year! See you in 2023!