Deck the Halls

I didn’t think that it would happen here, but I’ve caught the Christmas Spirit. It was a little more difficult to cultivate without carols on the radio, city-wide decorations, seasonal goodies and the like, but the excitement of the neighborhood children finally became contagious. After a couple of weeks of listening to Gene Autry and baking cookies for friends, the experience that long last brought be from my grinchy state was the Festa para Velhos, or “Party for Old People.”

The director of the elementary school one town down from us organized an event for elderly folks in the surrounding communities. I volunteered to help out by bringing a plate of brownies, and I met up with a co-worker, Hortalinda, who taught me to make a typical Cape Verdean dessert in her home. She was so kind and welcoming, and I got a huge kick out of watching her 2 toddler grandchildren play with 2, day-old goats.

Hortalinda’s daughter and I carried our dishes to the elementary school where the party was in full swing by 11 am. My elderly neighbors were dressed in their Sunday best as opposed to the work clothes that I’m used to seeing them in, and they were all smiling proudly. I joined women in the kitchen peeling manioc and nhame and enjoyed the festivities around me. A group of men showed up with guitars and began playing traditional Cape Verdean music. The elderly folks all took to their feet, partnered up, and danced for hours. It was such a joyful sight.

When the party began to wind down after 5:00, the school presented each guest with a large bag of groceries. The contents were simple: beans, rice, powdered milk, but the recipients were enormously appreciative. Seeing the generosity of others and a heart-warming celebration filled me with holiday cheer. I also quite enjoyed that the school director sent me home with a slice of nutmeg cake and orange cookies and that Hortalinda presented me with a little pizza and homemade jam. Scott and I feasted.

After dinner, Scott and I dawned our gay apparel (sweatshirts and headlamps) and decorated a pine tree right outside our door. We had to take advantage of our great fortune in having pine trees despite living in a mostly arid, tree-free country. I made ornaments from bottle caps, tuna cans, and butter lids as well as ribbons from cookie packages.* Basically, it’s a trash tree, but it looks kind of pretty from a far.

We finished off the evening by watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation on the laptop. Magic.

Our Christmas Day will be spent with neighbors who have adopted us as family. Scott may help kill their goat for lunch. I’m pretty sure that I’ll be helping the women gather beans although I’m comically bad at harvesting beans. My agricultural skills of observation are poor, and I often pull them before they’re ready. It’s trickier than you’d think. Our neighbors have been excitedly anticipating the day, and we’re looking forward to spending the time with them.

No matter your holiday activities, Scott and I wish all of you a very merry Christmas. May your celebrations be delicious, joyful, and spent with loved ones!


* There are ornaments for sale in the city, but people in our town don’t have extra money to spend on that sort of thing. Even though we could afford tree decorations, we decided not to buy them. We’re trying to blend in. (Ha! This is a funny statement. We draw attention as if we had extra heads. There’s no such thing as blending in for us.)