A Foreign Version of the Familar

Christmas here is a strange blend of the familiar and foreign. The other day I saw one of those stupid dancing Santas like they used to have at Wal-mart stores. But I also saw another Santa that I’ve never dreamed I would see. One of the peculiarities her in Brazil are the advertisement trucks, they are trucks (sometime just motorcycles or bikes) stacked high (sometimes 10 ft. high) with an assortment of speakers. These trucks drive slowly up and down the streets blasting their wares. Usually it’s a combination of music and a voice convincing you to buy something (I guess). These trucks are so loud that when one passes by you have to stop your conversation, there’s no chance you’ll be heard (even if you are inside a store). The sight I saw the other day was a Santa on top of one of these trucks, dancing and throwing candy to no one in particular.

The other evening we went down to the riverfront where they had some Christmas decorations set up. Everything from a nativity to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The girls loved it. Brin and I weren't sure what to think...

This morning (Christmas Eve), we opened our presents. Tonight we have church (as usual on Sunday evening) and then tomorrow morning we have a breakfast at church.

Even in the familiar act of opening presents, we experienced something that reminded us again that this was to be no normal Christmas... Some of the presents we bought were wrapped at the store, and they used Portuguese gift tags. To top that off, the order is reversed: who it is from is on the first line, and then who it is for is second (backwards from what I was used to). We finally got all the gifts sorted out, but Ava ended up opening one of Mia’s gifts. She was so excited (see picture below), even though it was actually a gift she had bought for Mia (she didn’t even recognize it).


To see more Christmas pictures, and a short video go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/brinleezj/Christmas