Christmas or Natal in Brazil is not as filled with as many traditions and well… snow as it is in Minnesota and the United States. It was extremely bizarre to not have a Christmas filled with snow, stockings and warm winter jackets yet it was an experience that made me appreciate the winter wonderland of Minnesota.

On Christmas Eve my family and I drove early in the morning to Santo Antonio do Amparo, my country house and sitio (farm), where my mom’s parents live. That night my aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins came over to our house and we opened presents at midnight and then ate a late dinner of turkey, ham, rice and beans. The desserts here are always my favorite part because Brazilians always use condensed milk in everything and I absolutely adore condensed milk! My mom made a dessert with doce de leite (from Argentina), whipped cream and then cookie bits within it. My grandma also made a pudding but pudding here is more like a cake mold with a type of flan thing made of condensed milk, of course!

The next morning we all woke up early and drove to Sao Joao del Rei a town about 45 minutes away from Santo Antonio to go to my dad’s parents house. Sao Joao is a university town and much bigger, filled with beautifully, slave built bridges and a delicious popsicle shop that makes the most fresh popsicles i have ever tasted. My dad’s family is much bigger but the funny thing is that some of my mom and my dad’s sisters and brothers married each other so there was some overlapping. We all ate the usual rice and beans plus chicken and turkey and my grandma’s famous pudding. After about 3 hours of just lazing around and waiting for the whole family to arrive we played a type of white elephant game where everyone is assigned a person who they must buy a gift for but when giving it to them they have to say clues about the person until everyone guesses. The clues that we gave about each other were all funny clues like,”this person will definately go bald eventually.” By the end of the game my jaw hurt from laughing so hard and smiling continuously.

My family was so gracious and bought me sandals, shorts and a tank top. I was so surprised they had bought me so many gifts but it felt good to get something just like at home.

Every year on Christmas Eve my family hands out barbies and little toy trucks to the extremely poor people who live in Santo Antonio. It was such an exprience to see all these little children being given these simple toys and seeing their little faces light up with smiles. I have seen poverty in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica but i have never been in such procsimity to these people. It felt so good to give a present to a person who appreciated it so much. the over all experience made me appreciate how wonderful my life is with my family here and how priveledged I am to be here in Brazil.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!