A Christmas Like No Other

Between the three puzzles (the third and most appropriate for our Portugal visit, the Tower of Belem) and relaxing we have done a few side trips. All the white buildings in each of the towns of Portugal are so fun to see.

About an hour and a half from our apartment is Huelva, Spain, best known for the site where Christopher Columbus set sail on the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. They have full-size replicas of each of the ships and how the village looked when they left that glorious day. After sleeping through many history classes and my mother always saying, “If you don’t know history, history will repeat itself”, I have enjoyed learning even a deeper meaning of what and why certain pieces of history happened. Admiral Columbus was a very intelligent and honored man. He surrounded himself with seafaring experts to make not only the one famous journey, but three successful journeys. It is told that he thought by traveling west they could reach and see the east.

Christopher Columbus’ remains are located in the cathedral located in Seville.

We ate lunch at a fun restaurant that makes good use of all their space – like bunk beds except dining tables.

For our Portuguese Christmas we are working in as many of the Portuguese traditions we can along with our own.

The three of us spent a day Christmasing at a couple of malls. Our stockings have been hung with great care and so it was time to see how they would be filled.

After shopping we settled into a Christmas movie at the mall. Yes, that’s 6.50 euro per ticket for an English speaking movie, popcorn, and drink. We can’t get that even on Tuesday senior citizens day at home.

Last week we shared that the Portuguese decorations in this area are pretty simple. They have a few traditions to share. On Christmas eve the family builds a presepio, which is a crib without baby Jesus in it. When they leave for Christmas eve service someone places the baby in the manger for when they come home, they see baby Jesus has been born. Jay didn’t build a presepio, however we do have our nativity placed and we found an English speaking Christmas Eve service to attend. The church, Riverside International Albufeira, was so tiny, and the most loving people – about 30 people at the most fit in this tiny place. The pastor spoke Portuguese and his wife translated to English. Unlike Curacao, the service was an hour long, however it did make us miss our Curacao church people when we heard the translating.

Another tradition is decorating the table with azevinho which is Portuguese for holly. Even before Christianity, it was a sacred plant in many cultures. It represents love, hope, and protection.

Christmas dinner is quite a bit different from our traditions, however as they say, “when in Rome”.

Balcahou, also known as salted cod, the most prominent ingredient in a Portuguese cuisine.

The cod plated beautifully, but, Wow, was it salty. Extra blood pressure pills for anyone who takes them when they eat salted cod. Thank goodness we chose to do this earlier than Christmas day. For Christmas dinner we made a Cioppino using a little bit of the salted cod.

After Christmas Eve Service we decided to do the “Christmas Story” dinner at a Chinese restaurant. It was really good.

Not a single Portuguese table goes without a Bolo-rei on Christmas. This is the Christmas dessert. It used to have a gift baked into it, like Mardi Gras’ king cake and whoever ate the piece with the gift had to supply the cake for the next year. For tradition, our table did not go without either.

Christmas in Portugal is about celebrating the birth of Jesus and what that means such as celebrating life, peace, and most of all, love. After all, God is Love. All throughout the year the Portuguese are affectionate touchy people. Men greet one another with a handshake and may pat each other on the shoulder. They will continue to talk while holding the hand and shoulder. When women are good friends and family they may walk around holding hands. Becky and I thought we would be a part of that tradition when we were shopping.

Although we did not experience this, Jay read a blog that said, “If an English speaking Portuguese person finds that you are English they tend to latch onto you and invite you to their homes to enjoy Portuguese food and hospitality”. You can definitely feel the kindness in the locals.

We spent a few days in Sevilla, Spain to add to our holiday celebrating. Once again, Game of Thrones was in our midst. The Alcazar Real is another place they filmed, season five is what I heard. It must be a theme for us these past couple months. The castle was built for the Christian King Peter of Castile beginning in 1287. The upper level of the castle is still used by the royal family as their official residence in Seville.

The Plaza de Espana was absolutely beautiful.

The Cathedral in Seville is the third largest in the world and the largest Gothic one. Legend says as it was being built the elders said, “Let us build a church so beautiful and so grand that those who see it finished will think we were mad”. They did do that, beautiful and grand. It’s difficult to take good pictures due to the enormity of this place.

Seville loves Christmas. There are Christmas markets everywhere beginning each evening in December with different themes. One is the nativities. Two blocks of nativities.

There is a market for children, and others showing different artists’ works.

The streets are decorated beautifully all throughout the city.

Flat Mark and Flat Vicki showed up for the festivities.

Nothing says the Christmas season like Spanish Flamenco dancing, right?

Maybe not, however Handel’s Messiah certainly does. It was the best Messiah concerto Jay and I have ever seen. Along with the twenty choir members on stage, when the words,”Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” began members of several choirs were sitting on the sides, (200 choir members) stood up and sang with the twenty. Amazing! You can only image how the Hallelujah Choir sounded. Again, amazing!

There have been a couple places that we left pieces of our hearts this year, Spain is one of them. If I were a little more adventurous and we wouldn’t miss grandchildren, friends, and family, we would learn Spanish and move to Spain. Jay and I both love so many things about this country.

Christmas day we were back in Portugal – what a fun day. We began with a beautiful sunrise and Jay cooking pannetone bread french toast and eggs. Orange trees are everywhere so freshly squeezed orange is a daily drink. I like to have fresh squeezed pomegranate juice mixed in my orange juice.

We became hooked in Israel and here in Portugal we continued our new addiction. We used this juicer everyday for pomegranates and oranges. This might be our first purchase when we get home.

We opened gifts from our stockings. I think Santa felt I had been a pretty good girl this year.

The exciting part of the day was being a part of the sixteenth annual Santa Charity Swim in Armacao de Pera. The Portugal news media was covering the event.

Later that day we had the television on; low and behold, there we were on the Portuguese news.

Adding a little of our own tradition to the day that began 20 years ago – poppers on the Christmas dinner table, popped before eating, wearing the crown while eating, and sharing the jokes and trivia that comes inside the popper. This year the joke and trivia paper also had a charade to act out. We had enough poppers to have one at the Christmas dinner table and the breakfast table the next morning.

Our last day in Portugal with not a cloud in the sky and about 70 degrees was spent hiking, my favorite past time, near the lighthouse along the tops of the cliffs and caves we saws on boat a couple weeks ago. 16,000 steps- 62 flights of stairs and gorgeous views.

It’s a Christmas like no other for us with special moments abounding. It’s like one of my favorite verses, John 1:16. The message version reads, “We all live off his generous bounty, gift after gift after gift.” During this warm-hearted season and, throughout the year, may you cherish every moment and appreciate the time you spend with family and friends. It is important to the Portuguese, and hopefully important to each of us as well, to feel grateful having them in their lives. So hug them, kiss them, and show your appreciation for them as often as you can.

We are grateful for Becky to have come this far to spend the Christmas season with us and getting to know the Portuguese traditions along with us.

Blessings and Feliz Ano Novi (Happy New Year), Jay and Kelly