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Where else can you see 25-foot toy soldiers, a two-story Santa, or a house decked out with 30,000 lights other than Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. The suburban neighborhood, historically a quiet, Italian-American enclave, has been putting on its legendary holiday spectacle since 1986, when Lucy Spata moved to the area. Her over-the-top Christmas displays...

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Being the son and grandson of two excellent home and professional bakers, my mother and grandmother, I probably have a unique perspective on the Christmas season. As I've shared many times before, beginning in the first week of December those two wonderful cooks started their holiday baking, an expression of their philosophy that you could never ha...

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The traditional nativity scene in St. Peter's Square won't be so traditional this year. For the first time, it is made of sand - 720 tons of it. For the past two weeks, Rich Varano, a professional sand artist, has been guiding three sculptors from the Netherlands, Russia and the Czech Republic, to craft the work, which measures about 5.5 meters hi...

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Trumpets sounded Friday night in Gubbio as the world’s largest representation of a Christmas tree came to life. The attraction, which takes up an entire hillside in the medieval Italian town, is more than 2,400 feet tall and nearly 1,500 feet wide. For nearly 40 years, the Guinness Book of World Records has declared it the biggest Christmas tree di...

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It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and Joseph Sciorra was ready to build his presepio in his Williamsburg apartment. A Styrofoam base was in place on a small table in the corner of the kitchen. There were plastic containers and tape and nails and dried bunches of herbs to serve as vegetation. This year, his presepio — an elaborate Nativity and v...

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Christmas in Italy is rich in traditions that have, for the most part a religious history, with the celebration centered on the nativity scenes in churches and home. Italian customs and traditions add so much to the beautiful celebration of Christmas in America for families of Italian heritage and help teach the younger family members about the val...

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Snappy tux with a pocket handkerchief? Check. Backing of a seven-piece swinging band? You got it. Any chance he’s not Italian? Fuhgeddaboudit! That meant Allentown’s Miller Symphony Hall was ready for a two-hour Christmas show last Saturday night celebrating crooners of bygone days. Sal “The Voice” Valentinetti delivered it, baby, with Christmas so...

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Celebrate the holidays with food, wine and live music at the fourth annual Christmas City Tasting, 6-9 p.m. Dec. 20 at Hotel Bethlehem. The 21-and-over event, hosted by local importer South Italy Imports, will feature unlimited tastings of 18 Italian varietals, music by Craig Thatcher and Nyke Van Wyk and food samplings from top area restaurants su...

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In 1990, as Christmas drew closer, instead of the excitement I had always felt at this time of year, I became more and more melancholy. I loved Christmas, the tradition, the tree, the shopping and wrapping, even the cooking of the Christmas Eve meal for 35 people. I especially loved our nativity scene, our setting it up as a family, and then hiding...

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Christmas is one of my favorite times to visit Italy, in part because handmade crafts take center stage. At holiday markets across the country, you can locate treasures like glass ornaments, nativity figures, wooden toys, hand-woven woolen goods, and traditional sweets.  December is also one of the best times of year to buy directly from the artisa...

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