Christmas 2006

Christmas eve was beautiful. We exchanged our gifts at midnight, as we do every year - who wants to wait for morning?? From Linda, in Vancouver, I received a mini scrapbook album to decorate and fill in as I wish. Its done in a poinsettia style.... very pretty. So at the end of the evening, just before I went to bed, I journalled in it:

"Tonight we had our most special and memorable Christmas ever. Tat wrote a message to us on a 'scroll' and resting on it was a tsuru bird for luck. Jorge had already given us our memory sticks for our immigration documents. We each have one now. I made mini-scraps for Jorge and Tat with the theme, '10 things I love about you'.

We had a Runescape Christmas We all met in the party room at Seers Village. It was fun!

The fireworks are very loud and seemingly unending. We gave the dogs some rescue remedy and treats to calm them. Its warm and damp outside after a day of rain."

For those who don't know, Runescape is an online game set in medieval times. We play it as a family. Some people watch TV, we play Runescape.

Christmas day was just as good. I still need to write it up and print the photos for the scrap book. We slept late, had our Christmas 'photo shoot' and prepared our Christmas slunch (sic) of turkey, carrot salad, potato casserole, green bean salad, beetroot salad - yes, there are a lot of salads. Its too hot for the traditional fare. Our South African custom is to have cold meats and salads for Christmas. Turkey was a brave move for me this year. For desert there was this super-rich chocolate tart. Halfway through our slivers of tart, we gave up and packed the rest away for later.

Today was a lazy day of Runescape, cleaning up a little and this afternoon/evening, we watched Eragon. Nice movie... reminded me a lot of LOTR. Jorge has gone to bed now. I'm settling to sort out the rest of the photos and journal the Christmas. Tat is colouring in. Yep, she got a new set of coloured pencils for Christmas and has downloaded and printed some pics to colour in

White Christmas!!

We had a snowball fight today - in Brazil!


Reality check: Its raining buckets outside, interspersed with thunder. We took the turkey out of the freezer this morning. It was quite thoroughly caked with ice. Tat started scraping the ice off - a weirdism of hers. She scrapes ice from the supermarket freezers too. I looked at her hands and it looked so like snow... white, crystally and cold. I scraped off a handful and threw it at her.... she threw some back - a snowball fight!! It was wonderful! We decided to spread our seasonal cheer to where Jorge was sitting. Suffice to say, he's threatened to get his own back on us =D

The spice cookies are in the oven and I've just taken the first batch out. They came out perfect and smell heavenly! Once they're all done (I quadrupled the mixture), I'll get started on the shortbread and the chocolate cookies. Yum!

And so this is Christmas...

So this is christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young a very merry christmas
And a happy new year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear and so this is christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The war is so long
And so happy christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let’s stop all the fight a very merry christmas
And a happy new year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear and so this is christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so happy christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young a very merry christmas
And a happy new year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear and so this is christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas... and what have we done... Another year has passed and what have I done. Nothing much of anything, it seems. No major accomplishment. A couple of new friends, the loss of a couple of old friends. Am I a better person than I was last year this time? I wish I could say I was. Well, I'm working on it and working on getting the newly resident 'Grinch' atmosphere cleaned out here.

So... And so this is christmas. I hope you have fun, The near and the dear ones, The old and the young a very merry christmas And a happy new year... Let’s hope it’s a good one....

Saturday...

And I decided to, once again, clear out my mailbox. I'm an e-mail junkie, packrat, hoarder... there's no hope for me ;) So, I went to the bottom of my mail pile. The oldest message is always a good place to start, but the hardest too, as it is usually a message that I have decided once before to keep. It turns out to be a poem sent to me by my very dear friend, Diane. I can't possibly delete it, though I may do the intelligent thing and save it somewhere, so the mailbox can be lightened. And then I can do the next best thing... share it with others, as its so beautiful.

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
God forbid love ever leaves you empty handed,
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
When ever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance...I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance,
Livin' might mean takin' chances but they're worth takin'
Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin'
Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,
When you come close to sellin' out consider,
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance...I hope you dance I hope you dance...I hope you dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,
Tell me who wants to look back on their years
and wonder where those years have gone.)

I hope you feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
When ever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

Dance.. I hope you dance...I hope you dance I hope you dance...I hope you dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along
Tell me who wants to look back on their years
And wonder where those years have gone.)

Lee Ann Womack

Isn't it beautiful?
Its hot here again today with an incredibly high humidity, thanks to the thunder showers we're expecting later. Tat is on her way out to meet a friend. I hope she doesn't get caught in it. We have low-lying areas between here and town that will be flooded.

I slept late this morning. Nothing too unusual considering my 3am bedtime. My plans for the day? Well, I need to work on something I have for madam while she is out. Need to get laundry and dishes done first - there, my note of the mundane thrown in. Hm... and I simply have to get started on my Christmas baking. Chocolate creams (for South Africans, they're Romany creams), Spice cookies, and the quintessential shortbread.

Away in a manger

I was about 3 when my gran, Ouma, who raised me, decided I had to have some sort of religious training. She was Nederduitse Gereformde Kerk and my grandad, Jim (everyone called him Jim) was Presbytarian, like all good Scotsmen. So one Sunday morning, Ouma marched me down to the Salvation Army on the corner, where I was introduced to Aunty Val who sat at the door welcoming all the kids to Sunday school. A little later, I was shown through to the hall where the children gathered for Sunday school. I remember clearly the rows of wooden chairs… the kind with the flip-up seats (many a boy lifted one of those while I was sitting and made me fall over the years). The floors were wood. To the left of me as I walked through the door was a strange entrance. I found later it led to a den under the stage – a most exciting place. Up ahead was the kitchen, an office, a store room and the ablutions. But this day, the gathering was in the main hall. Ouma took me on a good day. There was no Sunday school. We were going on a march.

We walked through the main streets of Port Elizabeth, Aunty Val holding my hand. Everyone looked so smart in their uniforms and the band played beautifully. My eyes must have been like saucers. I was in awe. It became my dream to wear a uniform. The Salvation Army taught me about the Bible. They taught me about caring for others. They taught me about love for my brothers and sisters. They encouraged our talent and trained us for leadership. It was my second home for so many years.

Christmas time! If there is a part of my childhood Christmases I treasure and holds happy memories for me, it is the part that I spent in Salvation Army activities. A while beforehand, we would go from door to door with our little wooden boxes. Naturally, I was accompanied by an adult. We collected, so that we could make Christmas special for those who would otherwise go without. In later years, I became part of the sorting of other donations for this as well. Then the most exciting part – the carolling! We would all stand on the back of a truck. The band sat at the ‘front’ behind the driver’s cab and, as the truck drove slowly through the streets, we would sing our hearts out. I loved those evenings on the back of the truck carolling! I was listening to ‘Away in a manger’ playing tonight and the memories came flooding back.

I still love carolling. Oh, another favourite Christmas memory has just come to mind – Carols by Candle-light in Happy Valley, Port Elizabeth. Happy Valley was where the river that ran through Settler’s Park ended before running into the sea at Humewood beach. The place was a popular picnic and strolling spot by day and by night, a fairy tale come true. In among the bushes and trees were lit-up scenes, sprinkled with fairy lights. If anyone out there reading this blog has photos of Happy Valley at Christmas time in the 70’s, please let me know! Nativity scenes, Disney scenes, fairy tale scenes…. a child’s dream come true. I honestly believed that those scenes would spring to life at any moment. In the flatter area, closer to the beach with the fun fair up on the hill, they had Carols by Candle-light. We each held a candle in a paper candle holder and by the light of those candles, in front of the huge Christmas tree and the lit up Nativity scene, we sang carols in the dark. What a beautiful scene from the hill… all these candles and lit up faces and the music…!

If my Ouma were alive today, I would love to thank her for giving me those very special memories to hold on to and hopefully pass on to Tatiana and the generations to come. My wish for all my friends is that you also build special Christmas memories and traditions and experience the love and joy of the season in so many ways.

Water, water everywhere...

São Paulo is flooding. There are areas flooding that don’t usually get flooded much. Below the Pinheiros River (or next to it or somewhere), there is a huge underground reservoir to collect flood water. Well, the Pinheiros flooded and the surrounding neighbourhoods along with it. We have moved away from the Tiete River now and I see those areas are pretty much under water now.

If you would like to brave some Portuguese, stop by at Terra and look at the photos. Scroll down on the page until you see, in bold print, “Veja mais fotos” with a tiny camera next to it. The rather bland photo, with no apparent flooding is just drawing attention to the fact that there was 115km (71 miles) of backed up traffic in the city. A few of my own photos of São Paulo’s version of ‘in the wet’ can be found here.

My daily gratitude: I am grateful to be in a house that doesn’t leak and I am grateful to be on a hill. The days of sweeping water out of the house are over. That is surely good =)

Turkeys and trimmings

Its Christmas time. On Dec. 1st, I decided to go officially into Christmas mode. Many have already received the cards we sent out. Just hope the few gifts get to their destination on time. I, once again, made our own cards. I really enjoyed making these. If I had a regret, its that they are small. I should perhaps have made them bigger. Next year, I think I’ll do A5 cards with more trimmings.

We put up the tree yesterday. I video’d it with grand plans to make a spectacular Christmassy… uh…. thing to send out to friends. I’ll see what I can do with that. The tree looked miniscule (judging by the glorious pines I see on the net), but gorgeous! Then last night, I was sitting peacefully at my desk when… crash… the tree came down. Specs sat here with huge saucer eyes, so I immediately expected her paw to have been involved. I took the fragile ornaments off, just in case, and put the tree back up. Jorge says it came down this morning again, he left it down, and said Specs was sleeping in her box at the time, so she wasn’t the guilty party. We just have a highly unbalanced tree *sigh* So today, we’re making tree plans… to see what we can come up with to keep the thing upright for the month.

And…. today… I am cooking turkey for the first time ever! Wish me luck. Roasts aren’t my strong point, though I do a pretty good chicken roast and this is just a huge chicken, right? We bought the turkey for Christmas day, but delivery was overnight and it arrived home partially thawed, so we have to cook it. That’s fine with me, as it gives me a practice run for Christmas. I’m going to cook rice with the turkey, as madam doesn’t eat mash - sacrilege – I love mash! Anyhow…. the turkey won’t be cooked with me sitting here. Its time to take the covers off and get it in the oven…