When Chef Carmelo LaMotta, owner of LaMotta’s Italian Restaurant in south Fort Myers, makes his Christmas Eve grocery list, there's no mistaking his Italian roots.  In addition to the old standbys of bread and wine, he adds shrimp, calamari, octopus, clams, mussels and salted cod to the lineup.

For LaMotta and Italian-American families across Southwest Florida, Christmastime means the Feast of the Seven Fishes, a family gathering and seafood extravaganza that can last all night as friends and family members usher in Christmas Day.