christmas part one

[fishbite]

christmas was great. we spent it at my aunt zete's house, in santarém, which is where all of my family is from. it's where we used to spend christmas, all my life until a few years ago, before my sister & my cousin got their own houses in lisbon and we started doing christmas somewhere else.

unfortunately my mum had to go to work on the 24th, and she'll only be home on the 27th, so she didn't spend christmas with us. we all missed her very much, but in a way, it's good, because it means it's not over yet, so all of my family from my mother's side is coming to lisbon for a late christmas lunch at our place, where we'll exchange presents with my mother.

i love that my family's so tight. it always feels so short. we barely had time to play any of the games my cousin antónio got for christmas, i really wanted to learn how to play poker too. this year was the first time ever that my family decided to escape christmas consumerism, and actually commited to it. i have no idea what my mum got me for christmas and i still don't know if she's lost her head or not. most of the presents i gave away i made myself, except for my niece leonor who got a whole load of gifts from me, handmade and not handmade. it's funny, now i realise why i got so many presents when i was a kid, people really lose their minds for the baby in the family.

she also got this really amazing pink keyboard from my aunt & uncle! it's awesome, i've never seen her so excited with something, she was totally nuts playing all this weird avant-garde experimental free improvisation tunes. my baby niece is a genius. my brother in law & i where also playing around with it and improvising some shitty rap music and later we tried to put on a forró & brazilian funk show but we aren't very talented.

also, the greatest news from christmas is that my cousin maria is pregant! she was trying to get pregnant for a while with her dutch boyfriend detmer, and she finally did! it's really exciting. we're going to have a new baby in the family and leonor will have a (dutch) cousin around her age to play with just like my sister & i had!

anyway, for christmas so far i got:

• striped bed sheets from my grandparents (haha! lucky me!)
• 30€ & some chocolates from my aunt nanda
• more chocolates & a really cute small christmas doll from my aunt nini & cousin hélia
• a pair of really cool black checked tights from my aunt zete & uncle tito
• a cute pink maneki neko cell phone strap & a wonderful collar/cravat thing i am in love with from my cousin maria
• a huuuuge, wonderful & extremely tacky gold wrist watch from my sister & brother in law
• a pretty 2009 planner, you know, the korean ones, from myself. because i'll be organized someday.

so you see, it was a modest christmas. but gifts aren't what's important about this holiday, definitely. it's the one catholic holiday that truly speaks to me, it's the best tradition in our family. it really makes me happy. and then, it makes me think, leonor is so lucky to have so many people around her that love her so much, and our family really knows how to make a child feel safe and loved.

sorry for being so sappy, this post really wasn't cool at all, totally lame.
what the fuck, loving your family? disgusting, makes you wanna throw up.