The 2105 Christmas Thread!

[fruitbat]

We are gathering at sister #1's this year. It's the first Christmas since my dad died, although he was in the hospital on Christmas Day last year. The kids, (nieces and nephews) are getting older (as am I). I can't wait to sleep in on the 26th.

What are your plans? Do you celebrate? Do you get time off?

[Marie]

Also my first Christmas since my Dad passed away - you think more about those you love and miss during the Holidays. My Brother and SIL are bringing Mom to my house for Christmas. They will return home same day after a Christmas feast and will leave Mom with me until she gets bored with us. My Niece and her husband will join us the day after Christmas so we will have a house full (at least for my house!)

I wish I took off from work this entire week like most of my friends did. This place is like a ghost town. I'm looking forward to Weds afternoon when I will start my holiday time off. Wish we were going to get some cool weather but it looks like it will be shorts and flip flops for Christmas - weather is supposed to be in the 80s (F).

Joy and good wishes to everyone!

[Helen8]

DH's office closes down the entire week (forced to use precious vacation hours). A good friend (who also doesn't have family) invited us out to a new restaurant in Palm Springs for Christmas dinner. The rest of the time we'll relax. DH has been working pretty hard these last few months, so he finally gets to sleep in.

Happy Holidays to All!!!

[thunder]

It was the last day at work before Christmas today. I'm gonna take it easy... but there will be some family obligations. I'll do the rest of the shopping tomorrow morning, and after that is being with family and friends for a couple of days.

Happy Christmas everyone

[Tosca Nini]

Working on Christmas 24th and 25th (meteorological observations, somebody has to make them), but will be spending it with me mum here in Lisbon. Presents are being bought, essentially food, books and pants.

Need to prepare ficus tree and dress it in Christmas decoration. We'll be eating King Cake, Dry Cod on Christmas Eve dinner and sliced turkey on Christmas day. Among many other delicacies:

https://www.google.pt/search?espv=2&rlz ... Ddh3tts-JI

Presents are opened at midnight on the 24th - Portuguese tradition.

And I will be watching Peter Pan on Christmas day.

Merry Christmas to all Lost Girls

And may the DAWN descend upon us in early 2016!

(Wrote a huge text about Christmas 2105, when I would be 139 years old, but my computer logged me off and I lost all the text and links!!! )

[Helen8]

Great food pix, Tosca. Reminiscent of the food scene in Passionada. Oh, yeah. She was Portuguese.

[fruitbat]

Tosca, what is King cake?

I'm at my sister 's already, using her iPad , which might explain my bad typing. the weather is very warm, 15C! cRazy warm . gEez I hate iPad keyboards!

We took my nephew to see Scrooge on stage . It was quite good. Tonight The Vicar of Dibley Christmas special. gOtta go, hate typing on this thing.

[Tosca Nini]

fruitbat, glad you asked about King Cake. Led me to learn that many countries have King Cakes

see here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake

, which we call the Bolo Rei

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolo_Rei

which has a pretty good descrition of it's origins and ingredients.

For loads of photos on Bolo Rei see here https://www.google.pt/search?q=Bolo+Rei ... 06&bih=625

We had a small Bolo Rei and a bigger Bolo Rainha,
see https://www.google.pt/search?biw=1006&b ... CnUQ1QIIIA

which is not so sweet, because it doesn't have the cristalized fruits.

Everybody has it here from Christmas until January 6th (the Kings Day - Three Wise Men)

But last night we also had Dry Cod (Bacalhau com Todos) at dinner

https://www.google.pt/search?biw=1006&b ... q9KN2m_Arw

which is traditional here in Lisbon.

Plus loads of fried delicacies such as

Sonhos (Dreams) https://www.google.pt/search?biw=1006&b ... tGRnJHzeeQ

Rabanadas https://www.google.pt/search?biw=1024&b ... _m4zLfYhKY

Filhós https://www.google.pt/search?biw=1024&b ... 4LIQV9pp60

Azevias https://www.google.pt/search?biw=1024&b ... N2PP7vhfDY

Broas Castelar https://www.google.pt/search?biw=1024&b ... LDKIxs84zk

And we didn't have this time the Flores (Flowers) https://www.google.pt/search?biw=1024&b ... nGYocyTfME

But we may have them for the New Year celebrations.

I suspect all these fried desserts come from ancient Jewish celebrations of Hanukkah that we have adapted, using mainly wheat flour, which is cheap.

We also have Sweet Rice at the Christmas table, but we eat it during all the year anyway

https://www.google.pt/search?espv=2&rlz ... aqI_XtH_M0

Plus many varied cakes, the most famous are

Tronco de Natal (Christmas Bough) https://www.google.pt/search?espv=2&rlz ... blUASk4rB0

Lampreia de ovos (Lamprey, eel-like fish) https://www.google.pt/search?espv=2&rlz ... AgQQ1QIIHQ

For Christmas Day Lunch we normally have Roasted Turkey, many have sliced turkey, to be quicker to prepare.

And for Christmas Day dinner we have
Água das Pedras (Stones Water) https://www.google.pt/search?q=%C3%A1gu ... CGwQsAQIMg

our Perrier water, because nobody is able to eat anything.

The following day, which we do not call Boxing Day, it's not a holiday, we recycle everything, the main dish being

Roupa Velha (Old Clothes literally), made with the Dry Cod meal remnants

https://www.google.pt/search?espv=2&rlz ... 9TXdvlqtOI

Many thanks to our Norwegian friends (thunder nod) who let us Portuguese people be completely addicted to their Dry Cod, and the Canadians who let us fish it in New Foundland. There are 1001 way to cook dry cod here in Portugal and we consume vasts amounts of it. It's our national fish basically.

And now that I have finished my meteorological observations (9.9ºC, 93% relative humidity and 1030hPa of sea level pressure, plus mist, 7/8 of cloud cover at 9:00 UTC) and the sun is starting to shine, and I have showered you with loads of caloric food, I'm going home to have a little nap (got up at 6am) and then Christmas lunch (Yumm, Yummm, my mother said there is a surprise in the freezer, wonder what it is...)

Marry Christmas and Happy Lunch

Tosca

[fruitbat]

Tosca, my dad was a Newfoundlander, born into the cod fishery. At the age of ten he was taken out of school, much to his dismay, to fish with the men. He was a scrawny kid, and told them it was too hard. Their response was to send him out with another family, the Joyces. The Joyce men had "hands like meat hooks" (i.e. were really strong) and taught him the ropes. (Literally, I suppose, with regard to the ropes.)

Your post made me hungry.

[Tosca Nini]

Hi, fruitbat!

Hope your father got a better adulthood after the first bout as a forced cod fisherman. But anyway, many, many thanks for contributing to our national obsession. We still have loads of fisherman who go to fish the cod in Newfouldland. Now the boats are better, but the work is still as tough as you can get.

Happy New Year, everyone! The Forum has been very quiet. Have The Lost Girls crossed the 2015/2016 barrier?

[thunder]

Happy new year to you too :)
I took a break during the holidays. Decided to stay off the computer for as much as I could and get some other impulses. It was quite nice...