Boas Festas

Well I got a lot of questions when I called Ohio about how Christmas was in Rio. Actually, not all that different, and very different at the same time. With our family here we enjoyed a dinner of turkey and chester (like a chicken) on Christmas eve (which in Portuguese is called Véspera de Natal). We didn't have a lot of the American holiday-time staples like mashed potatoes and stuffing, but I still managed to eat myself sick [after a full dinner here, my cunhada and I went to our tia's house, where even on an average day, food is abundant and impossible to refuse].

One of the highlights was rabanada (pronounced ha-ba-nada), which is very similar to French toast and frequently served for Natal (Christmas) [here's a recipe in Portuguese if you want to make it yourself].

Photo by Fr Antunes.

While we did exchange a few gifts, the night was different in that my sogra gave a meditation and talked about Christ's birth and its importance in our lives.

Christmas day was celebrated poolside, with a huge lunch with the ample leftovers from the night before, and our same group of family, minus my cunhado.

Recently, I saw several US films: Elf, Jingle All the Way, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and How the Grinch Stole Christmas--all dubbed in Portuguese. Sadly though, no Christmas Story, and I will say, that my Christmas feels very strange having not heard the phrase, "You're gonna shoot your eye out."