Christmas is coming.....

The countdown is on...15 days till Christmas Day. I have not been caught up in the Christmas fever this year so far, I have no work Christmas party to go to because I don’t work anymore. No money to buy christmas presents so I cannot go crazy shopping for gifts. At least Andre’s mother has made an effort, she is spreading her christmas cheer. She has decorated the house from top to bottom and inside out. It looks beautiful, there are santa’s hanging from light fixtures and the balcony. Christmas lights decorate the front of the house and looks magical at night. Christmas ornaments, fake plants, ribbons, you name it, it’s all here.

I am starting to miss home a little, most Christmas’s are spent with my family but not this year. It will be spent with my new family, my husband’s family. Brazilians are big Catholic followers, especially Andre’s family so I think Christmas day will be celebrated in grand style. I feel awful that I cannot buy presents due to lack of funds so instead I will contribute by making a Christmas cheese cake for all to indulge.

Iracema is very busy this time of the year at her school, winding the year to an end. This means late nights at work, Graziela and Diego have been burning the candle at both ends as well with no extra pay. Jerusa could not care less about staying behind, she is home most nights on time. I am looking forward to get back into work, even if it is casual. I may be working at the local English school next year. I am starting to get a bit nutty, I spend nearly every waking hour in the house. I need to see new surroundings to stimulate my brain.

I miss blueberries but I have found a replacement....açaí berries, a Brazilian super fruit. Most commonly eaten frozen then blended with granola sprinkled on top. I love a half bend of açaí and half frozen peaches topped with granola. Açaí is packed with Vitamins B1, C, E, fiber, proteins, potassium, calcium and antioxidants. Brazilian Athletes always eat açaí and hour before their events and it gives them the energy to perform their best. I am no athlete however I am pregnant and tire very easily and açaí gives me a boost.

“Oranges” are not actually orange in Brazil, when an orange is ripe the skin is green and the flesh is yellow. How can you call this orange an orange in Brasil? “Lemons” have green skins and green flesh, they look like over grown limes. In the supermarkets they sell tiny “quail eggs”, they are so cute and are used boiled in salads. They are the perfect size to fit in your mouth. Brazilians also love “farofa”, it’s bread crumbs fried with oil, onion, dried meat and eaten as a side dish or sprinkled on top of salads/beans.

People in Rondonopolis love to wear jeans, I honestly don’t get it. It is so hot and humid and everywhere I look everyone is wearing jeans. They wear jeans to work and out on the town. The shops have walls and walls of jeans in all shapes and sizes. The women prefer to wear skinny jeans no matter what size they may be and men wear relaxed fit jeans. My brother Daniel always wears jeans so he would fit in just fine here.

Messias is finally home, he arrived at 6 am this morning by taxi from Cuiba. He’s crazy, he spent R$400.00 to get home from the airport. He woke Andre and I up at 7 am this morning and I was not happy Jan. I had not got a lot of sleep as Andre and I spent all night talking again. I stayed up for a bit, it was so good to see him. It’s been a month since I saw him last and now the whole family is home, a full house.