Feliz Natal Brazilian Style

We are officially on our "summer" break now! I just got home from playing our Natal (Xmas) Concert at the Teatro, and now we start our holiday time-off. 

From our experience in Manaus this year and last, Brazilians tend to celebrate more on Xmas Eve than Americans. Last night, Jay and I spent the evening at the house of a friend's family. The popular thing to do for Xmas is to have a big family dinner late on the night before Xmas. We arrived to their beautifully decorated house around 9:00 pm, and snacked on some salgados (assorted finger foods). 

Very pretty outside setting 

Right before we ate dinner, our friend from the orchestra Eduardo played some music on his violin. We were at his mother in law's house, so he was kinda obligated to play. Everyone loved it of course, and we heard some Xmas tunes that are popular here. Then there was a prayer said before we all dug into the tasty dinner. Despite having 30 people there, we had plenty to go around.  

Veggie salad w/chicken, beef, turkey, bacalhau, 

rice, mashed potatoes, farofa, rabanada

By the time midnight rolled around, we had all filled up on all sorts of food, drinks, and desserts. Everyone played a fun game involving trading presents, and Jay and I ended up coming home with a nice key holder from Aracaju that hangs on the wall.  

Our hosts, Eduardo and Aline, in the middle,

Debora and Mark on the right 

21 weeks prego- no way to hide it now :)

While most American kids are encouraged to go to sleep early so Santa will stop at their house, Brazilian kids stay up past midnight and open their presents before going to bed. Everyone sleeps in on Xmas day, and then enjoys a lunch with family. By the time our concert rolls around on Xmas night, everyone is rested and in the mood to be entertained! I'll put some pics from that up on my next post. 

Happy Holidays! 

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

We weren't able to celebrate Thanksgiving on the correct day because no one in Manaus seemed to realize that it was a holiday! Jay worked the whole day and the orchestra had two rehearsals that day. We decided we weren't going to let that deter us from gettin our turkey on, so we postponed the big day til last Sunday.
I invited our closest friends from the orchestra for dinner and several teachers from Jay's school showed up, too. It's always fun for us to get the chance to share our traditions with people here, and many of our friends had never celebrated Thanksgiving.
Because of the quality of ovens here, we put the turkey in nice and early on Sunday to leave plenty of cooking time for it. We spent the afternoon relaxing in between peeling the potatoes, chopping the salad, cooking the green beans, and making the dough for biscuits. Thanks to those efforts, we both think this was the most painless Thanksgiving preparation we've had.

Peeling potatoes while watching football

When people started showing up, the only things left to be done were things that had to wait til the turkey was out of the oven (only one rack)! Despite already allowing an extra 2 hours of cooking time for our 18 pound bird (2 stores and $100R/$60US later), it actually took an extra 3 hours to cook- more than 7 hours total with a recommended cooking time of only 4.5 hrs! We may just have discovered the secret to a juicy turkey though, cause it was definitely the most delicious turkey we've ever eaten.

Beautiful Betsy Bird

We had about 15 people mais ou menos by the time we got the dinner going, and although it was a few more people than we expected, there was plenty of food for everyone. Besides the turkey and gravy, we had a tomato and cucumber salad, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, 3 different stuffings, green bean casserole, and homemade biscuits. It was all sooo delicious! I have to say a big thank you to my mom for sending us fried onions and cream of mushroom soup for the green bean casserole, some Stove Top Stuffing, and heavy duty disposable plates to use. 

Musician friends of ours

Jay and some colleagues 

Once we each had our second round of food, we busted out some games and had a couple different games going simultaneously. Of course, dessert time was soon to follow and the warm caramel walnut brownies I made were a hit, especially served a la mode. One of Jay's friends brought us a chocolate cake, too, that was tasty. 

By the end of the night, I think everyone could understand why we Americans love this holiday so much. It's not just the great food and plentiful football that make it so special, but the chance to spend the day with people you care about.
I know we are both grateful this year for our wonderful friends, our supportive and healthy family, and for the little baby boy that will make our lives even more blessed in May!

It's Jazzy!

Jay started playing with the Amazonas Jazz Band finally, but because of visa issues, he's still not an official member. He has played several concerts with them in the past couple months though, and luckily I got to see one of them at the Teatro recently.
It's always fun to see them play, and this concert had an amazing Italian clarinet soloist. I know Jay really enjoyed the opportunity of working with such a talented musician, and it's nice to have people like that coming to Manaus.

The Band on stage

Jay with the soloist

After the concert