Christmas Part 2

In the blink of an eye, Christmas has come and gone. There were moments where I felt the comfort and familiarity of a typical Christmas, like spending Christmas Day at Otto & Marjories. Those moments were truly wonderful and any homesickness I might have been feeling diminished. However, there were moments throughout the last 3 days where I missed Christmas at home. I missed the snow (crazy, I know, but it's true), the tradition of Christmas morning at home, Grandma's house with extended family and Christmas Eve services at church. Next year, it will resume again. I take comfort in that.

With all that I felt I missed at home, I don't think I would trade it for my Christmas here in Portugal. This was a memorable Christmas.

On the Eve of Christmas Eve, us Trekkers were spoiled by Doug and Myra. We thought we were showing up for a nice dinner with them, but instead we were surprised by a little Christmas dinner of Enchiladas, pumpkin roll and stockings!!! It made our night. I mean, who doesn't love little treasures inside stockings????



After a yummy dinner and stocking opening, we went on a mini surprise field trip to check out some nativity scenes close by in Loures. We pass by this particular nativity scene on our way to school and we were wanting to stop to take pictures, so this was perfect that Doug and Myra surprised us by taking us there.

 

The lovely and always sweet, Doug & Myra

For Christmas Eve, our team went to the home of where the boys live to spend Christmas with that family. It ended up being a very mixed bunch of people - another family from the Espaco/church in Massama, us, the host family (Edi, Rosemary, Lucas & Wesley) and some of Rosemary's family. The party did not get started until 10pm and it went until 3am - I am told it actually went closer to 5am, but us girls left just before 3am. That is true Portuguese style. We took part in a true Brazilian/Portuguese Christmas. Memories were definitely made.



 Us girls and Rosemary

 

Portuguese food involves a lot of Bacalhau (the famous salted cod). I chickened out and didn't take a whole piece of fish like the rest of the team, but I did take a bite of it and I can confirm that I did not care for it at all. People here say it's an acquired taste, so who knows, I may have my mind changed before I leave in 6 months. Other food that was had were collard greens, which were cooked in the same pan as the Bacalhau, so that wasn't a favorite for me either. There were some good Brazilian desserts though, which included coconut and pineapples.



Before the night was over, a bunch of us played the most rousing and intense game of Jenga that I have ever played :) We played guys against girls (for the record, the girls won all 4 games we played - nice work team).



It was an awesome night full of lots of laughter. Like I said, it made Christmas extremely memorable this year. I am so glad that I was able to experience a true Portuguese/Brazilian Christmas.

For Christmas morning, the girls and I had a little gift exchange among us. It was very little, but I scored a beautiful scarf from Rachael. After opening up some gifts (some people also received packages from back home), us girls made a delicious breakfast consisting of crepes, nutella, bananas, pomegranates, hot apple sauce, whipped cream and mamosas. It was absolute perfection.

 

Christmas day in the afternoon, we all headed over to Otto & Marjories for appetizers, games, movies and just good time spent together.



The Vanders joined us later on in the evening. It truly felt like Christmas with little kids running around.



Meika & Sofia got make-up kits for Christmas, so I was one of the lucky recipiants of a makeover courtesy of Sofia.

 

Sofia & Josh- so cute!

All in all, it was a pretty good Christmas - one that will be memorable for years to come.

Now we get to gear up for New Year's