Merry Christmas, if you celebrate it! A Happy New Year too!
Many thanks for reading and for all the comments, Twitter chats and general banter.

Stop reading, start speaking
Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.
The photo, by me, is of the Christmas tree in Milan’s Piazza Duomo – the spectacular cathedral of Milan is in the background. It was a lovely evening too.
If you’d like to find out what Italians will be eating at Christmas, see this Christmas menus post for the huge variety of regional Italian Christmas specialities.