It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas

Our little town is no exception...

I don’t know about where you are, but here in Portugal, we started seeing holiday “stuff” (TV ads, malls decorated, etc) at the beginning of November. Oy! And the fact that Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Portugal does not preclude Black Friday Sales. In VRSA the city started to show signs of the holiday at the end of November.

It has been a bit rainy, and I feared the lights wouldn’t be officially lit before Denise and I traveled to Lisbon on 7 December to meet up with friends. But Tuesday night we went into the square and surprise!

Children, who safely run about freely here, visited with Santa to insure he knew what was on their list. A brass band led Santa into town. Santa was sitting atop a VW Beetle convertible.

Our small Christmas market was open for business.

A nativity scene was erected. The baby is in there….I promise.

The carousel and play house help children burn off some energy.

Meanwhile, adults can visit the vendor who provided mulled wine and ginja.

That’s Denise visiting with friends. Their proximity to the ginja vendor is purely a coincidence.

Last, but certainly not least, Onix wants to wish you a healthy and happy holiday!

Final Note: I was listening to John Heilemann’s Podcast “Hell and High Water” the other day and he announced that he was taking a well-deserved holiday break. That he would be in “re-run” mode for the month. While I won’t be offering re-runs, his announcement encouraged me to take a break of sorts. (You see we have friends visiting from the States…in fact, as you read this we are in Lisbon with them.) On Tuesdays, expect a “typical” post. On Friday, a holiday post. Most likely light on text and heavy on photos.

Next Week: presépio gigante and holiday shots from Lisbon and/or Évora.