Christmas

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BAIN Holiday Party

It’s been a fairly quiet week socially, but last night we had our first BAIN in-person Holiday Party since the plague came upon us. It was lovely to see everyone again, especially since several people have returned after being in other places over the lockdown time.

The party was at a great restaurant called Cabernet, and we had the garden room to ourselves.

Here are a few shots of the festivities, as well as a cool little video. We have quite a bit of musical talent in BAIN, and last night we had a special treat. Cliff is a country and western singer, while Jenn sings jazz. Last night they stepped out of their comfort zone and gave us a little Christmas treat. I hope you enjoy it.

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Christmas in Buenos Aires

This was my fourth Christmas in Buenos Aires, and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it being in summer — oh don’t get me wrong, I like it but I’m still not used to it. My tango teacher worked in Japan for several years and he had the opposite feeling — he couldn’t get used to Christmas in winter! Anyway, Christmas is fun wherever you are, and this year was no exception.

The main celebration here is on Christmas Eve, as it is in many South American and European countries, while I’m used to celebrating Christmas Day in Canada and also in Scotland. This year I had the best of both worlds.

Venetia and I were invited to Cecilia’s for the family gathering. I had recently met a new friend, Lina, who didn’t have any plans. I had no hesitation in inviting her because Cecilia is famous for her hospitality, but it was even nicer when she invited Lina to stay overnight as well as Venetia and me. We arrived around 7 pm and were put to work making canapes, which we said we would do on condition we could drink wine while we worked!

The rest of the family arrived around 9 pm and we started eating half an hour or so later. It was all very informal, as it usually is — no ceremonial carrying in of turkey or anything like that. Oh, except for Venetia pouring whisky on the Christmas pudding and setting it alight, which was surprising to our hosts but we all enjoyed the delicious pudding. So all in all, we just simply ate, drank and chatted until midnight when we exchanged gifts in the usual chaos that involves.

Cecilia and I took the three dogs out for a walk around 2.30 am before going to bed, which was a lovely way to round out the day. Here are a couple of photos of the day. Below those is a video of the kind of thing that is typical on the train that takes me to Cecilia’s place. There are musicians of all kinds, carrying instruments and sometimes even sound systems! They are always much appreciated and everyone is very generous to them. Very Buenos Aires!

I took the selfie of the three of us, and the other photo and the video are courtesy of Venetia, our “official” photographer for all events! (Thanks Venetia.)

On Christmas Day all three of us came home on the train together, and then I had a lazy afternoon before getting ready to go to Venetia’s place for her traditional English Christmas pudding (again!) with ice cream and champagne — lots of champagne! We were a small but varied group of people and the conversation was fascinating. All in all I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Christmas. I hope you did too, wherever you are and whatever you did.

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Bienvenido 2018!

I’ve now brought in my second New Year under the fireworks in the Puerto Madero barrio of Buenos Aires. It’s one of the best places to see them, and it seems more and more people are discovering you can do that without spending a fortune on the expensive waterfront restaurants. In fact, because their music is playing loudly all evening, outside revellers can take advantage of it to dance along the edge of the water and across the bridge! If we need to go to the washroom, we just nip into the Hilton. My friend Lola calls this being “gypsies in the palace” — I like it!

I did shoot some video, for for some reason I couldn’t get any to load up to YouTube so that I could put them here. I did get one up on FaceBook though, and you can see it here.

Like everyone else, I’ve been pondering what kind of year 2017 was for me. Although of course there have been a few downs, there have been many more ups and on balance, for me at least, it was a pretty good year.

Over the past few years I’ve definitely been on board with the idea of spending my money on experiences rather than “stuff”. In fact, I’ve been actively reducing the amount of stuff in my life and that’s an eye opening experience in itself. It occurred to me that I live in Argentina for almost half the year in a tiny furnished apartment with no surplus stuff, so why on earth do I need bulging cupboards full of stuff at home in Toronto? The answer is that I don’t, and I’ll be actively working on that when I get back there in early May.

I began and ended 2017 in Argentina, and I hope to do the same in 2018, although I also plan a little bit more travel this year. That’s a much more fulfilling way to spend my money. Do you agree?

I’m having a bit of a lazy day today, and then I’m going to a friend’s house for even more champagne. And then tomorrow it will be back to normal. Although I do love Christmas and New Year, I’m always secretly relieved to get back to the work and leisure activities of my normal life.

I hope you are enjoying sharing my Argentine life through this blog and the occasional FaceBook post. Thanks for all your likes, shares, comments and emails. I’ll be back with more normal posts this week.

Happy New Year, Feliz Año Nuevo, y un 2018 prospero y feliz!

Helen

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Nochebuena

In Argentina, the celebration is more Christmas Eve than Christmas Day. It’s called Nochebuena, or literally the good night, and it’s a time for family and friends.

So of course I spent it with Cecilia and her family, who have become my Argentine family. This year my friend Venetia joined us — a former chef, so a good person to have around the kitchen! We had a delicious dinner featuring a huge, delicious roast ham, lots of salads and a lovely traditional plate whose name I can’t remember but it was basically beef with a creamy tuna sauce. Apparently Nochebuena dinner wouldn’t be complete without it.

I’m rubbish at cooking most things but I do quite well with dessert, so I went old school and made a trifle — generously dowsed with rum!

I wish I could remember to take photos of the food at these events, but I never do, so you’ll just have to imagine it.

It’s a beautiful day and I have a few hours before getting ready for the next event, so I think I’ll go out for a walk and maybe even get a sketch done.

Hope you’re having a great Christmas wherever you and and whatever you’re doing.

Feliz Navidad from beautiful Buenos Aires!