White Christmas

So, this is Christmas...
I have a nagging feeling that there is a song that starts something like that. I know you probably think I am pathetic for this, but I even searched for it in Google a minute ago. Found nothing.

Increasingly, I find myself searching on Google for lyrics of songs that have been lingering in my head, for years, long after I stopped listening to them and certainly, longer after I cared to remember the title or artist. These days I need a way of finding out such info, since I have taken, together with O, my husband, to download music from the Net. So for a few days now, he, more than I, has been acting already as a kid with a new toy.

Which brings me nicely to the fact that today is Christmas. I almost feel obliged to wish you all happy Christmas. In fact, we have probably done so, since two days ago, we remember (just in time) to send an e-card to all our friends! You see, sending cards is definitely not a strong tradition of Mexican culture, but I have come to appreciate how important it seems in England.
In fact, you can even make do without the birthday present, but forgetting to give a card is unforgivable!

By the way, the photo here shows how Rio looked yesterday. It was, as I said, a white Christmas!
It was as late as last Thursday, and in my home, there were still no signs of Christmas.
I have only bought a present for O, the week before, on a book fair that, conveniently had appeared integrated to my regular food fair on Friday mornings in Ipanema.

The book in question was a Seinfeld-authored book, which jumped at my sight and seemed utterly appropriate, were it not for the fact that it was in Portuguese, and it is still early in O's visit to Rio to reasonably expect him to understand it all.
I bought it anyway, he has been a big fan of Seinfeld's program, at least whenever he is in Latinamerica. All our previous visits have been marked by the daily episode, and were peppered by reference to this or that other scene. This time round, it has not been the case. One of the things I didn't check for when choosing the flat was cable TV. I had such a long list of requirements to worry for, and the places were not coming in numbers, so I guess I overlooked a few aspects. So far we haven't need the TV.

Christmas...sorry...Christmas.
I got him a few more presents on Friday when I found myself killing time in Ipanema, waiting for Natalia to call me. She's going to the US for a couple of months now, so we had to say good bye.
When I came back home, and O saw the bags of presents, he felt a bit bad he hadn't as much as thought about doing the same for me.
So we went "shopping" on Saturday. But, as you can imagine, if it is a pain for him to shop on a normal day, imagine the day before Christmas Eve.
So after the enormous quantity of ONE shop that we have visited, he started to walk with that look of the man walking to meet their dead on the electrical chair.
I had resigned myself to receive nothing on the day. But then, we saw this window, with a nice bikini...

We then went to the dreaded supermarket. At least they didn't play incessantly Christmas carols and by then, they certainly had no visible Christmas decorations waiting in endless rows taking over the whole space. We didn't decorate here.
We put our presents at the foot of the only potted plant at home.

Yesterday was a very hot day, and the kitchen was drenched in sun, so while the butternut squash was roasting (on the oven though!), we went to the beach.
I cooked then the rest: roasted Turkey breast, a prunes-and-apricot compote (no cranberry sauce to be found anywhere in Rio!), and a salad we called in Mexico simply: Christmas salad.

It was all delicious (I have to admit!).
We drank some Port at the end, with our Christmas cake, bought from the most famous patisserie in the south of Rio: Kurt.

We exchanged presents: He got, apart from the book, a pair of black trekking havainas (flip- flops, although, these pair really don't flop, since they have a thingy that adjust to your ankle, really good!), a pocket notebook in leather (to replace those folded A4 sheets that live permanently in his back pocket and house the "To do" lists) and a pair of Red boxer shorts: in Mexico, for a few years now, we have adopted the "tradition" of wearing some red underwear on New Year's Eve. This has to be new and gifted to you. It is supposed to guarantee love during the new year. I still remember the reaction of one of my English girl friends when two years ago she received from me a pair of sexy lace knickers in said colour. She turned almost as red as them.

The night was marked by a heavy electrical storm, no fireworks display could have rivalled the spectacle provided by Nature. We were happy to have stayed in.

We had a very fun Christmas! Just the two of us!