Christmas traditions

(Christmas Dinner with Work Colleagues)

When my boss heard that I was going to be spending Christmas alone/on the internet talking on skype, she invited me to spend Christmas Eve with her family. Unlike in Canada, where Christmas centers around the 25th, in Peru the 24th is when all the magic happens. Family comes together for mass and then gathers at the family homestead to enjoy some longstanding traditions. So at 10:30 pm I made my way through the city and through the pop, pop, pop of fireworks to enjoy some family time.

At precisely midnight we popped the champagne and had a toast, wishing each other a Merry Christmas. We then went out to the park outside the house to light up our own fireworks and sparklers. I shared my families tradition of oohing and aahing over each individual firework and got my boss to write her name with the sparkler like my cousins and I used to do when we were kids.

After all that excitement we sat down to share a meal together. Here's where I found the little differences to be the most pronounced. When discussing Christmas traditions at work food came up all the time but we focused so much on the commonalities I thought that the only difference was going to be cranberry sauce vs. no cranberry sauce. Most Peruvians have turkey for their Christmas meal and my experience was no exception. However they paired it with slices of pineapple, rice, salad, candied yams and a spicy brown sauce. It was delicious!

Finally the gifts were opened and we all headed to our homes to fall happily into bed.

The next day I had a non-traditional feast of pizza and pisco sours with a friend from Argentina. The sun was shining and I may have gotten a bit of a sun-burnt. Definitely not like any other Christmas I've experienced!

Happy Holidays to all!