Davi’s Christmas2011

First we visited my father’s family in João Neiva, a small town in the countryside. These are my grandparents in the comfort of their living room. My Italian descendancy comes from them.

The kitchen table is where most stories are told. My grandparent’s are like a newspaper! Since my childhood I love their stories.

By the way, my grandmother doesn’t let me take pictures of her, because she says she looks ugly (totally not true!), so I only took secret photos of her this time.

As we were in the countryside, most of our time was spent outside. I have an aunt near who lives in a farm near my grandparents, and my grandfather has a little land of his own, where we can get some fruits.

Do you recognize these fruits? Pink mango, coconut, papaya.

Bananas, graviola, jack fruit and cocoa, the fruit from where chocolate is made! Did you ever have homemade chocolate straight from the fruit? :)

More storytelling at my aunt’s house.

Dad and mom enjoying a little fresh air, and my grandfather contemplating the scenery. There are usually lots and lots of people at my aunt’s house, which makes me a bit uncomfortable, as I don’t know everybody well, but her farm is quite a comfortable place.

Drinking coconut water straight from the fruit and then opening it to eat its core is a must in our summer!

And then, when Saturday was about to end, we took a little walk near my grandmother’s house, as we usually do. Many parts of the city of João Neiva were formed by Italian immigrants, and even though they spelled Benvenutti wrongly at the sign, most are still very proud of their roots.

Then, on Sunday, we went to my mother’s mother’s house, here in Vitória, to celebrate Christmas with the other part of my family, the more authentically Brazilian one.

This is my grandfather from my mother’s part. Feel the mood of a Christmas in the midst of summer! Besides having lunch together, we also played a game with gifts.

We have a new member of the family this year! It’s this cute baby from my uncle on the right. As usually happens with newcomers, he was the center of attention.

After eating, we all sat in the frontyard to wait for the game to begin.

My grandmother is always worried about everybody’s wellbeing, so she never stops bringing us food or better chairs to sit on, and the babies are never really safe if she’s not around.

Finally, everybody is on the circle!

We play a very strange game from two years to now. Everybody brings cheap gifts, and then we sort each of us to go to the table and pick a present from a number, without knowing what it will be. Amidst all the choices, there are one or two nice things that everybody wants to have. The person who sorts a present can then decide if she wants to exchange it with the people that already have something with them, and they must accept the exchange. The result is a game with some strategy and lots of laughs with the bad things nobody wants to have. My brother, for example, on the first photo, had just found out he’s gotten a pack of underwear. He exchanged it for a set of headphones, but later lost it again.

The game goes along in a hilarious mood.

When it’s over, everybody is allowed to try to exchange their gifts with other people freely.

My grandparents were quiet this Christmas. My grandfather is usually very malicious and only cares about mocking other people (and me, for not having a girlfriend). But he has great stories (he once worked in Iraq!) and is a very funny person.

This is a small part of my grandmother’s living room. It’s full of photos from her children!

My favorite sweet dish of all!!! Condensed milk pudding!!

The end of Christmas. Back to work!