Christmas Eve... FOOD!
Well. Yesterday was the first day all break I haven’t gone online. I feel accomplished. Not that I did anything - I spent most of the day in the car - but I feel accomplished nonetheless.
Anyway, yesterday was the day of the long, arduous voyage to Viseu, the small town in the north of Portugal where all my family except two uncles lives. My parents informed me I’d have to get up earlier than usual…so I was online till 3am and only woke up at noon…again. I’m a bad person. It was a really nice day, the sun shining brilliantly and all that. My dad and I put together the sofa we had brought in pieces from Lisboa a couple nights ago. It’s really nice, red, and a little older than I am. Apparently I spit on it when I was a baby; there’s still a stain. (I’m having problems typing - I keep thinking of the word in Portuguese realizing that’s not right, and then trying to translate.) I’m rather attached to that sofa, but just as I was comfortably settling down on it to read Frankenstein, my dad comes up with a brilliant plan (you must realize that the last part of that sentence was sarcastic).
See, there are these white doors that we use to close up the house during the year when we’re not there. And my dad, because he’s paranoid about robbers, decided that even though we were leaving for just four days, that he should put them up…with my help. And so I was conscripted into carrying really heavy white things out of the garage, up the stairs, through our really large living room, and outside and then putting them on the rail. Those things were bloody heavy. My mom got annoyed at him, especially since it took ages - it takes about 5 minutes to set one of them up and there were 11.
Anyway, once my mom packed the car, the house was “wrapped” to my dad’s satisfaction, and we had piled into the car off we went. First we made a stop at this nearby beach called Paimogo. They have a restaurant there that we go to a lot; their spatiality is octopus. Anyway, my mom really wanted to take pictures because there are a lot of rocks and the sea swirls and it’s awesome. So we spent a good half-an-hour taking pictures of the sea. I had fun - I tried to film it but I couldn’t see what I was doing cause the sun was too bright so not a lot came out of it. Twas wonderful.
Then off we went to Viseu. My dad and I had an argument because I was listening to the Phantom of the Opera on my walkman and he was blasting his music on the car speakers. It’s really strange to be listening to the Phantom of the Opera, and then suddenly hearing jazz in the background. Other than that, and a large amount of traffic, the only other “exciting” thing was that my mom and dad started arguing about the rules of the road. It was rather funny. Course, no one in Portugal follows half of the rules, so it doesn’t make much of a difference but my mom is a stickler for rules and my dad is the typical Portuguese driver who doesn’t stop at stop signs.
So we arrived. My brother was mad at me for most of the evening - he didn’t even say hello to me when we arrived. *rolls her eyes* My family is chaotic; it’s rather funny. There’s always someone arguing, or something exciting happening. Lol. I had so many sweets last night though… I tell you, Portuguese Christmas sweets consist of fried bread dipped in different types of sugar. It’s ridiculously fattening…and so good. I didn’t fit into my pants this morning so I’m wearing jeans…yes, that is how much fatter I’m getting. I can’t wait for tonight! There’s the Yule Log, and suspiros (meringues) and more fried bread, and sonhos and formigas and cristas de galo and cheese! And requeijao and so much more! I love Christmas. I love food.
Haven’t seen my other grandmother yet, but I’ve seen almost all of my maternal family except Gonçalo, his mother, his step-father, and little Afonso. Christmas is officially starting in about 20 minutes with the Christmas lunch here at my maternal grandmother’s house - octopus! Yay! Then we have Christmas Eve dinner at my paternal grandmother’s house (baked cod…mm…potatoes!) and then we come back to my maternal grandmother’s house for the opening of the presents and midnight dinner. Yes, the midnight dinner. It consists of lamb or some other meat, more potatoes, and other such things. *grins* It’s exciting. And then tomorrow we go to my paternal grandparent’s house for the opening of more presents and Christmas Day lunch. And then back to my maternal grandmother’s house for Christmas Day dinner which consists of leftovers from all the other meals. Yes, the whole point of Christmas in my family is to gorge yourself. Lol. FOOD!
And on that note, I wish you all a Merry Christmas, unless you don’t celebrate Christmas, in which case I wish you a wonderful day nonetheless. Expect a really long entry on the 26th - I’m gonna describe food! Yipee! I miss you all!
-Cisca
Anyway, yesterday was the day of the long, arduous voyage to Viseu, the small town in the north of Portugal where all my family except two uncles lives. My parents informed me I’d have to get up earlier than usual…so I was online till 3am and only woke up at noon…again. I’m a bad person. It was a really nice day, the sun shining brilliantly and all that. My dad and I put together the sofa we had brought in pieces from Lisboa a couple nights ago. It’s really nice, red, and a little older than I am. Apparently I spit on it when I was a baby; there’s still a stain. (I’m having problems typing - I keep thinking of the word in Portuguese realizing that’s not right, and then trying to translate.) I’m rather attached to that sofa, but just as I was comfortably settling down on it to read Frankenstein, my dad comes up with a brilliant plan (you must realize that the last part of that sentence was sarcastic).
See, there are these white doors that we use to close up the house during the year when we’re not there. And my dad, because he’s paranoid about robbers, decided that even though we were leaving for just four days, that he should put them up…with my help. And so I was conscripted into carrying really heavy white things out of the garage, up the stairs, through our really large living room, and outside and then putting them on the rail. Those things were bloody heavy. My mom got annoyed at him, especially since it took ages - it takes about 5 minutes to set one of them up and there were 11.
Anyway, once my mom packed the car, the house was “wrapped” to my dad’s satisfaction, and we had piled into the car off we went. First we made a stop at this nearby beach called Paimogo. They have a restaurant there that we go to a lot; their spatiality is octopus. Anyway, my mom really wanted to take pictures because there are a lot of rocks and the sea swirls and it’s awesome. So we spent a good half-an-hour taking pictures of the sea. I had fun - I tried to film it but I couldn’t see what I was doing cause the sun was too bright so not a lot came out of it. Twas wonderful.
Then off we went to Viseu. My dad and I had an argument because I was listening to the Phantom of the Opera on my walkman and he was blasting his music on the car speakers. It’s really strange to be listening to the Phantom of the Opera, and then suddenly hearing jazz in the background. Other than that, and a large amount of traffic, the only other “exciting” thing was that my mom and dad started arguing about the rules of the road. It was rather funny. Course, no one in Portugal follows half of the rules, so it doesn’t make much of a difference but my mom is a stickler for rules and my dad is the typical Portuguese driver who doesn’t stop at stop signs.
So we arrived. My brother was mad at me for most of the evening - he didn’t even say hello to me when we arrived. *rolls her eyes* My family is chaotic; it’s rather funny. There’s always someone arguing, or something exciting happening. Lol. I had so many sweets last night though… I tell you, Portuguese Christmas sweets consist of fried bread dipped in different types of sugar. It’s ridiculously fattening…and so good. I didn’t fit into my pants this morning so I’m wearing jeans…yes, that is how much fatter I’m getting. I can’t wait for tonight! There’s the Yule Log, and suspiros (meringues) and more fried bread, and sonhos and formigas and cristas de galo and cheese! And requeijao and so much more! I love Christmas. I love food.
Haven’t seen my other grandmother yet, but I’ve seen almost all of my maternal family except Gonçalo, his mother, his step-father, and little Afonso. Christmas is officially starting in about 20 minutes with the Christmas lunch here at my maternal grandmother’s house - octopus! Yay! Then we have Christmas Eve dinner at my paternal grandmother’s house (baked cod…mm…potatoes!) and then we come back to my maternal grandmother’s house for the opening of the presents and midnight dinner. Yes, the midnight dinner. It consists of lamb or some other meat, more potatoes, and other such things. *grins* It’s exciting. And then tomorrow we go to my paternal grandparent’s house for the opening of more presents and Christmas Day lunch. And then back to my maternal grandmother’s house for Christmas Day dinner which consists of leftovers from all the other meals. Yes, the whole point of Christmas in my family is to gorge yourself. Lol. FOOD!
And on that note, I wish you all a Merry Christmas, unless you don’t celebrate Christmas, in which case I wish you a wonderful day nonetheless. Expect a really long entry on the 26th - I’m gonna describe food! Yipee! I miss you all!
-Cisca