Clear eyes, Full Hearts and Bellies. Also, shameless plugs.

We took the fast train to Florence and then the regional train to Lucca. Prompt, quick, clean. I would bash Amtrak, but #JoeBiden ❤️. En route, we charged all the things! The mobile hotspot is working out great - thanks, Englert family!

Welcome to Lucca, an idyllic walled city that brought us back to our trip to Cartagena with Nafeez a couple years ago and our dream home (#PushedBack #OneDay). Fun fact: it is the toilet paper capital of the world. Look it up.

Our lovely realtor, Susan, and more likely than not, your realtor (if you’re reading this post, since she knew more people at our wedding by name than most guests did) was referred to Chris in 2009 when he bought his Virginia house.

(FWIW, if you were a 2nd year GW law student in 2007 not named Chris Bruno, this is not that realtor who awkwardly cornered each of you for 30 minutes at the housewarming party at my Logan Circle condo whilst you were just trying to get your flip cup on. Speaking of that condo, it’s still available😉 if you know of anyone looking (#TrumpEffect #TaxPlanUncertainty😒)! Susan’s grandmother is from a town outside of Lucca. 12 years ago, they purchased a gorgeous top floor flat with amazing views built in the 1400’s. They now spend two months a year here (June and December) and rent out the rest (better pics of the apartment since we failed). #LivingTheDream

Since we were looking to rent a family for Christmas in Italy (not kidding, my google search history is hilarious, and basically almost did), we were more than delighted to alter our plans with a quick detour to Tuscany when Susan and Mitchell generously invited us for Christmas dinner. After greeting us at the train station, we took the scenic route back to their flat, dropped off our bags, and walked to Susan’s second cousins’ apartment. Her cousins have dual citizenship and are from Sonoma County, CA. We cannot express how touched we are by how warmly we were welcomed by the Gillotti family. Thank you so much for including us - slaving away in the kitchen for the thoughtfully planned and delectable 93792637 course meal, the Italian love song/Christmas carol performance/“sing”-a-long, and the lively conversation! (Congratulations to all of us for keeping Trump-related commiseration to a minimum! #win)

We will forever have such fond memories of our Christmas together as a married couple thanks to everyone in this picture!

Also, now that we’re all officially familia, Chris and I will attempt to steal the Gillotti tradition of serving pastachina, a dish more common in southern Italy (where the Bruno family also comes from). Chris is already brainstorming how to reverse engineer cousin Michael’s secret sauce.

Buon Natale!🎄❤️