Christmas happens, even if you’re in a place where it’s sunny and summer and about as far from the North Pole as you can get. Here’s proof (I was present as witness):
Christmas happening
I had a distinctly different Christmas experience than usual though, what with being in Patagonia, thousands miles from family, home and tradition.
Christmasy things I didn’t do this year: • Taste gingerbread or lemon squares • See Frankie shoot his eye out on television numerous times per day • Wear my puffy-painted Santa sweatshirt • Hear the cat try to climb the Christmas tree in the next room • Watch the traffic director at the local shopping center dance while signalling cars • Lip sync along with the carolers at my doorstep
Christmasy things I did do this year: • Decorate our cabin by hanging stockings and a string of lights from the curtain rods and putting a 2-inch Christmastree made of green beads in the windowsill • Blare English-language Christmas carols from my computer while sitting in front of the woodburning stove with my roommates one evening • Buy chocolates and a bracelet for my amiga secreta at work • Visit my second cousin Christian Santelices at his family’s ranch in Río Verde, a small community about an hour and a half from Punta Arenas. Eat a feast, open gifts by a tree.