And here we are nearing the end of January, 2026. It seems posting on the site has become one of those items on the list of things I should spend at least 10 minutes a day on (because come on, you always have 10 minutes to spare..) but this activity has joined the ranks of daily stretching, intense workouts, reading important literature, and cleaning out those last few boxes in the basement of our house. But hope springs eternal! So my current ambition is to make 2026 the year I post more regularly, improve my health..and I’ll leave it at that for now.
The kids and I are currently on a sort of house arrest together with Gia due to extreme weather conditions (heavy rain + wind) hitting our region of Sardinia (as well as other regions, and Sicily). Such conditions are not normal to the area and the local officials are taking several precautions to keep people off the roads and (hopefully) safe at home. The what’s app groups I’m in with the other moms confirm that I’m not the only one who has stocked up on ingredients and is on some kind of baking/ cooking frenzy. So far I’ve made brownies, a ragù sauce, roasted chicken with garlic and vegetables, chocolate chip cookies.. and that’s only for the past day and a half. My Sardinian counterparts are also cranking out dolci, as well as risotto, minestroni, and roasts in the oven.
These conditions are obviously extreme, but the past few months have given us a good idea of what winter in Muravera is like. It’s typically 10 degrees warmer than Breda, but there has been a period (since mid-November) when the nights were quite cold, going as low as 5 degrees celsius (around 40 degrees Fahrenheit). After nights like that, our house became colder (and moister) than it was outside later in the day. This was a shift for me..our living room in Breda was always super toasty. We have since tried out an array of heating units and we will likely install a fireplace in the living room for next winter as that should be the most pleasant (and cost efficient) way to warm up (and dry out) the house.
We didn’t experience Christmas day and New Year’s Eve in Sardinia yet as we had the fortune of traveling with Chris’ dad and sister and family to Zanzibar for the two week break. That was a cultural experience in itself, and I’m super thankful to have been able to spend the holidays with our family in such a beautiful place.
The week before we left we attended both Alex and Isa’s Christmas recitals at school. They had been singing the songs at home for weeks so the soundtrack was known in advance but I still teared up when I saw them both on stage, singing their hearts out, surrounded by their new friends and teachers.
Chris and I are both so impressed by what we have seen of the educational system here. Alex is in the 2nd of 3 years at the scuole dell’infanzia (ages 3-5) and his days are spent playing (with lego, duplo, tractors, puzzles, friends..), doing arts and crafts (I will include pictures below.. I think these creations are gorgeous and it’s clear the teachers also put in a significant amount of time to help), eating at the mensa (hot lunches every day), and learning about kindness, manners, the seasons, holidays, and cultural traditions (like Is Animeddas, Natale, la Befana..).
Isabelle typically has 3 or 4 subjects a day, and each subject has a different maestro or maestra. Two of her teachers teach a few subjects – Italian and Art; Science, Geography, and History; and the other three teachers only teach one subject – Mathematics, English, and Religion. She also has 2 breaks to play outside, and a hot lunch in the school restaurant. She has a quaderno (notebook) for each of her subjects, and each one is full of notes, drawings, reflections made by Isabelle, as well as corrections (and compliments!) written in pen by her teachers. Examples can be found below 🙂
