Christmas News!

In case any of you are wondering what I'll be doing this Christmas vacation, here's the news:

Th, Dec. 20 - Dan Kornfield arrives in Brazil! We go by a government office to renew his permanent residency. I imagine he might want to sleep a good deal of the rest of the day after being on the plane all night.

Fri, Dec. 21 - Karis and Val Kornfield arrive in Brazil! They'll probably want a good sleep too :). Fri. night is the last meeting of my small group until Feb. We're putting together a huge dinner that Val and I will probably go to, because Val used to be a part of this small group too.

Small note on why my small group won't be meeting again until February - Brazilians have their longer vacation now, because it's summer here!!! December is also the end of the Brazilian school year. School vacations will last until after Carnaval this year, since Carnaval happens the first week of Feb. Otherwise, they'd have to take off for the five day Carnaval holiday before they had barely started. When it happens in early March, of course, they have to start beforehand. Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that January is always vacation month here. Pretty much everything stops. My church will go on having Sunday night services (that's when the main service happens in most Brazilian Protestant churches), but that's about it.

Small note on Carnaval (make sure you roll your "r" and put the stress on the last syllable ;) ) - in case any of you are wondering why Carnaval happens at different times different years, or what in the world Carnaval is, here's an explanation. Carnaval starts every year 4 days before Ash Wednesday (which is 40 days before Easter). So it happens at different times each year because Easter happens at different times each year. Why that is, I have no idea. My mom just informed me it's connected to the phases of the moon. Go figure. Anyway, Carnaval is a crazy celebration where you're supposed to staunch the needs of all your carnal appetites before going solemn and sacrificial for lent. It's known as Marti Graw in other contexts. People dress up in exotic costumes, and put on all kinds of fancy parades, which most of you have probably seen pictures of. The celebrating happens especially in Rio and other beach-side towns. São Paulo pretty much empties out for the occasion, since we're not on the beach (we're an hour away).

On one hand, Carnaval is a beautiful display of Brazilian music, dance and creativity. On the other hand, people throw all their sexual mores (and a lot of other otherwise generally followed moral beliefs) out the window. Crime and sexual abuse rates sky rocket during those days. Drunken revelry is commonplace and it's extremely dangerous to be on the streets. The Protestant church here strictly condemns Carnaval, but enjoys the days off of school and work. The Catholic church... well, I don't think they like it too much either, but I've never heard an official position on the issue. Feel free to inform me if you know what it is :). Anyway, rewinding two months back to Christmas...

Sat. Dec. 22 - we'll probably sleep in, and then just hang out and enjoy during the day. The six of us Kornfields (all six - hurray!) will go to the Lemos's for dinner. Weston and Carrie Lemos are a couple from our mission that I'll probably be working closely with next semester. However, there's an extra special reason for this particular visit: the Limpics will be there too!! Ted and Claudia Limpic have been a part of Sepal (OC in Brazil) since before we got here 17 years ago, but left in 2006 to join OC in Spain. They're wonderful family friends who we haven't seen for a while. It's been even longer since we've seen their two grown sons, Jeremy and Joel, who will be with them this time.

Sun. Dec. 23 - officially "Christmas" in the Kornfield household. Since we're leaving on the 24th for a family vacation in the Northeast of Brazil we'll be celebrating as a family a little early. Tradition dictates a scrumptuous breakfast, family devotions, present opening around the tree, and a Thanksgiving-like dinner with turkey and mashed potatoes. This year our celebration of the Lord's birth will culminate in the Christmas service at church that evening.

Mon. Dec. 24 - we leave for Salvador, Bahia, a city in the Northeast of Brazil (the southernmost city in the orange area of the Brazil map linked at the bottom of the column at the right). It's been a family dream for several years now to visit the Northeast (or Nordeste as we call it here), and my mom got discounted tickets for travelling on Christmas Eve. One of my dad's long-time ministry partners, Enizete, has carefully planned our three days in "her" city so that we can get the most possible out of it! That night we'll probably celebrate Christmas Brazilian style, which means getting together with Enizete's family around 9 or 10 at night, hanging out until midnight, when everyone will get up and cheer and exchange hugs and Christmas greetings, and then having a big feast which will probably last until 2 or 3 in the morning. Not surprisingly, the program for morning of the 25th itself is to sleep :). We'll be in Salvador until the 27th.

Th, Dec. 27 - leave Salvador around 1 in the morning for Natal. Once again, we were going for cheap prices over convenience on our flight times. If you look at the map again, Natal is the city on the farthest East point of the continent, right on the north of the orange area curve). The name of the city literally means "Christmas". Hehe. Anyway, we'll be spending another three days there, enjoying beaches that we're told are some of the most beautiful in Brazil (which is saying a lot).

Mon, Dec. 31 - We arrive back in São Paulo during the AM, and rest up for the celebrations that evening. My church will be having a New Year's service which will end in the New Year's "ceia" - a feast that will start around midnight. Then, home to bed! Unless we decide to be rowdy and stay up all night or something crazy like that.

New Years Day - nothing particular planned until 5 PM. Then we're having an open-house for friends and neighbors who want a chance to come say hi to Dan, Karis, and Val while they're here.

Wed, Jan. 2, 2008 - enjoying our final day with Dan before he leaves that evening (sniff sniff).

Th, Jan. 3 - Fri, Jan. 11 - hang out with the sistas!

Sat., Jan. 12 - I leave in the morning for an 8 day missions trip with youth from my church. Karis and Val leave that evening :(.

Sun, Jan. 20 - I get back to SP, and rest up. Then life gets back to normal... maybe.

I hope you all have a blessed celebration of Christ's birth, and a happy New Year!