Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Natal no Brasil



Christmas Day 2012

Whew, feels like 120 degrees, according to the sweaty weather people. But what do they know…expected clouds and a more comfortable temperature. Ran the bomba (compressor) but the large public water tank did not fill up…great, have to conserve our water intake today and probably tomorrow too! May be drinking the swimming pool water-my reservation is the unidentifiable floaties I view in the direct sun and …I’d rather not go into details! Perhaps I can persuade the water delivery man to bring us a bottle though the street vendors have been quiet all day..

Last night Theo started complaining about how exhausted he was and insisted he open his gifts on Christmas Day. He howled and wailed until his parents relented. Uncle Joe brought his present consisting of a new Ipod upstairs to his locked room and …what do you know, he came racing down to throw his arms around his parents, kiss them and sat down to eat dinner with his new plethora of games in one hand, pastel made with linguisa and cheese dripping with ketchup in the other. Dono rattled off a prayer I didn’t catch and then each child blew out a candle to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Gift wrap flew and everyone oohed and aahed over the multitude of toys, clothes, watches, shoes, socks, jewelry and books not to mention a new laptop, speaker systems and a neighing horse on a stick. Dono paraded around the room with each new item of clothing to model them for us. She was clearly enamored with each outfit, donning necklaces and shoes to match each combination. Ethan circled the room, galloping with a tippy cup of guarana (soda) in his little hand until after 1:20am. “Coka, coka” he cried!

Today’s Lunch consisted of leftovers from last night, I ate the black rice salad I made with star fruit, tomatoes, walnuts, apples, onions and a mustard honey dressing. Skipped the turkey despite the question “I thought you didn’t eat meat, this is turkey!” Hm. The dessert of pineapple and whipped cream with strips of fresh coconut (took me ages to pry it from its stubborn shell) was delightful.

Everyone is working at staying cool, sauntering from one room to the next and guzzling whatever we can get our hot hands on. Bikinis, congas and swim trunks are the Christmas attire.

Close my eyes and think about snow, sitting by a fire and Christmas in the Midwest. Know all of you are in my thoughts, all 34 in my family!

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