Winter Holidays in Summertime

Christmas cookies, Christmas presents, Christmas music.  But, every time I listened to Mary Chapin Carpenter's "The Longest Night of the Year," I remembered that this Christmas would be different.  Not bad, but different. A mix of traditions and experiences.  To start with, we're having the longest days of the year here in Chile, with sunshine and hardly a cloud in the sky from about 6:30 am until 9 pm.  This makes it feel like we get some bonus-hours of Christmas spirit.

Arboles del Mundo (Trees of the World), a summer-y Christmas exhibit in the park.

The Christmas spirit began for me on Friday before Christmas, at the evening candlelit service ("Noche de velas") at our church.  The service ended with lighting our candles and singing "Noche de Paz" ("Silent Night") together as we processed out to the church courtyard, a beautiful symbol of spreading light and music in the world.

Soon came Christmas eve, or "Nochebuena" (literally, "Good-Night"). A friend Silvia invited me to her big family celebration, a not-so-traditional Chilean-Uruguayan-Peruvian Christmas.  We ate a delicious dinner, talked and laughed a lot, and just before midnight, the Viejito Pascuero (literally something like "Little Old Christmas Man", or Santa Claus) dropped off two big bags of presents for the kids.  The time had come to open gifts, and amidst all the commotion and torn wrapping paper, Silvia's brother appeared with a gift for me to open.  Guayaba jam from a trip to Colombia.  It was possibly one of the most meaningful gifts I have ever received because it was actually a gift of family for the holidays.

The Lingán family Christmas.

We look like we're having fun.

Christmas day, the day I'm accustomed to celebrating, Santiago was very quiet, and I took the opportunity to embark on a bike ride to the mountain town (and ski center) Farellones.  I was happy to find more bikers than cars on the road, as I slowly but surely ascended the curvy route I had traveled several times before, but never by my own pedaling power.  I reached the sign that marked 2300 meters elevation, a gain of more than 5000 feet in about 23 miles from my apartment, before beginning the windy-cold-glorious descent.

My route, from mapmyride.com

Christmas afternoon I made an attempt at baking the traditional Chilean "Pan de Pascua" (like fruitcake, literally "Christmas bread"), which came out almost nothing like the real thing, but possibly a tasty new creation we can call "Pan de Gringa" (thanks Julia for the name!).  I enjoyed some of the pan de gringa, an ice cream sundae (which with Mom and Charles we traditionally eat on Christmas Eve, but I took the liberty to swap occasions) and drank "Cola de Mono" (the Chilean Christmas drink of choice, like our eggnog), as I reviewed photos from this year and made a small video and holiday greeting. In practice, the video became a gift to myself, a reminder of the incredible opportunities and experiences I have been blessed with in 2012.

The days marched along, and soon we arrived at the end of the world, I mean the end of the year 2012.  I had a quiet New Year's eve, which included more ice cream, popcorn and "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (thanks to Megan and the Fulbright gals for the excellent recommendation of a must-see US classic) in my pajamas on the couch, and I waited for 2013.  At midnight, I sat anonymously, lights out on the patio of our 13th floor apartment, and watched fireworks being launched nearby.  People were cheering and ringing in the new year from patios and roofs of all the surrounding buildings, and I felt like I was part of all their celebrations, but from the comfort of my home.

Good morning 2013! On my first jog of 2013, the first group of runners I saw were wearing matching shirts for the "Chile Road Runners". What a coincidence, I felt like I was running along in spirit with the New Haven Road Runners and the Rogue Road Runners from Austin.  I even said "Good Morning" to the first friendly Road Runner I saw, before reminding myself that not all Road Runners speak English after all.

In the end, New Year's day felt more like the 4th of July.  A sunny, hot, long day, complete with a barbecue at the house of an ALMA astronomer.  Watermelon, swimming pools, sunscreen.  These aren't the symbols I typically associate with Christmas or New Year, but they brought me very much joy, and it turns out that joy, rather than snow or winter-y weather, is all that's needed to make the holiday season special.