Christmas at 90 Degrees

Well, since 2008 is almost over, I thought I’d share with you my Brazilian Christmas experience. I have to say that I really missed a lot of the USA Christmas traditions (family and cold weather mostly). But once we began celebrating and while I was talking to people, my homesickness subsided, and I thoroughly enjoyed Christmas in Brazil.

It started the Saturday before with the young people’s Christmas party at the church. We had dinner then played two present games: amigo da onca (I have no idea how to translate that, sorry) and amigo espiritual (spiritual friend). The first one was kind of a joke. We drew names and had to buy a present that, in a nice way, made fun of the person. For example, I received a small etymological dictionary of Portuguese words, since I don’t speak the language well. Get it? Maybe you just had to be there. Anyway, it was really interesting. For the spiritual friend gift give-a-way, we bought some kind of spiritual gift (I made a cd of Christian music). At the party, we made a “web of love” as we handed out the gifts. One person started, took some string, and threw it and their gift to someone who blessed them this year or who they wanted to get to know better in the next year. In the end, we had made what looked like a web. There was also a slideshow of pictures from throughout the year. I learned an important lesson from that slideshow: where there is slideshow that I can be in, there will be a picture of me sleeping (which is sad for everyone because I am not pretty when I’m asleep. And I have tons of pictures to prove it.). I can’t escape this curse even by moving to another country!

The Monday before Christmas, I hosted an English Christmas party for a few readers and some people from the church who speak English. I made sugar cookies with homemade icing and no-bake cookies. They started out a bit rough but turned out good! Well, they were edible at least. :) Cris and I introduced them to Dirty Santa, the BEST Christmas party game EVER. It was great. They stole gifts more often than Americans do! We also watched one of my favorite Christmas movies: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, claymation version. I used to watch that movie every year when I was younger. I still love to watch it.

Us and our Dirty Santa Gifts


On Tuesday, Cris and I took Roberto, Marisa, and Andressa Signoretti (one of the missionary families) to my new favorite restaurant, Sal e Brasa. It’s a churrascaria (a restaurant specializing in meat that they bring to you at your table. Genius.) with a sushi bar and salad bar. Oh, and incredibly delicious desserts. What’s not to love? After lunch, Cris and I opened our presents. Her mom graciously sent me some gifts, which I appreciated more than words can say. I got some beautiful bracelets (from Cris), a book (yay!), some lotion, and my favorite gum, Big Red. That night we went to see Natal’s Christmas tree. It was huge, so much so that we could see the top of it from the church, several miles away (or so it seems). It wasn't an actual tree, but the shape of a tree made from lights that blinked and changed colors. It was beautiful.

Christmas Eve started off really well when the doorman beckoned me over to give me a special delivery. The box my dad sent only 2½ weeks before had arrived! (The Brazilian postal service was on the ball. Under non-Christmas circumstances, that box wouldn’t have arrived for another 2 weeks.) You'll never know how excited I was. I really enjoyed going through the box, seeing all the goodies my family sent. My favorite part was the Christmas cards. I love my family. :) That night I went to the American missionaries’ house. Christmas Eve is a bigger deal here than Christmas day, so we had a big dinner, complete with shrimp, turkey, mashed potatoes, rice, salad, a dish that I wasn't familiar with but really liked (some kind of mini dumplins in tomato sauce-ish) and cinnamon roll-like bread (yum!), all Brasilian-style and delicious. Then we played a game, opened gifts (I got a cute tank top and some cookies), and left. I spent the night at the Signoretti’s home. Since Andressa got the 3rd season of Friends, we had a Friends marathon that night.



Part of Christmas day was spent at Camurupim beach. I really liked that beach. And hanging on the beach on Christmas day was pretty cool too. It was definitely the first time I’d ever done that! Later, I was able to talk to my family on Skype. That was so great! I saw and talked to people I hadn’t seen or talked to in months. Yes, I was a very happy girl that night.

Me and my Christmas 'date' on the beach


My (first?) Christmas in Brazil was wonderful! Even though I couldn’t be with my blood family, I was with my Brazilian family. I hope all of you were able to spend Christmas with your loved ones. May the last few days of 2008 go well for you!! And I hope that 2009 starts off wonderfully and continues to get better and better. I pray all of God’s greatest blessings on you in the year to come!!!

P.S. Thank you for the comments. I enjoy every one more than you could ever know. :)