2019 is gone, but the end of the year is always my favorite because we get to decorate our house and blow every last penny on food and decorations for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. But admittedly, we did things a lot different this year.
For starters, we didn't buy a turkey for Thanksgiving. We ordered food from this amazing Venezuelan place in Cordoba City, Argentina, called D'Lucas Gourmet. We've been ordering from them for about a year now and we love their food. And since it's spring and summer during the holidays here, we decided to avoid turning on our oven and ordered out as much as possible. The meal might not have been traditional, but all in all, it was a nice Thanksgiving.
And then, of course, came the second Comic-Con of the year, which you can read about here. But just a few short weeks later, Christmas came around and I was battling the flu. Fortunately, a couple of Vicks Tea a day allowed us to enjoy Christmas Eve with our friend Franco, who came over from Bolivar for a visit.
Another major change to our Christmas in 2019 was the lack of gifts. Oh, don't get me wrong. We spent money on gifts for ourselves. But we decided not to buy gifts for anyone else. It sounds selfish, I know. But we learned that some of our friends felt uncomfortable doing things like buying stocking stuffers and gifts. When we had asked a friend to make a wish list last year, they responded by saying, "I don't feel comfortable asking my friends to buy me gifts." But we sort of forced her into it and felt bad about it afterwards.
It turns out that Argentines aren't big on buying gifts, which is a real shame, because we feel completely different. It gives us a great deal of joy buying things for the people in our lives and then watching their reaction when they unwrap their gift. But we learned the hard way that Argentines don't like opening gifts in front of people. They would rather take the gift and open it at home. Otherwise, they'll get embarrassed. This isn't limited to Christmas presents either. This includes birthday presents, too. And while I can't say we understand their way of thinking, we have to respect this because this is their country and their way of thinking. I'm sure they find our point of view just as confusing.
On Christmas Day, we had a quiet celebration with just the two of us. The food was mostly whatever was left over from the night before. But we also made stuffing and served hallacas from a Venezuelan restaurant called Naguara Resto-Bar. They are similar to the Puerto Rican pasteles my husband used to eat with his family in the States.
But to welcome 2020, we decided to try something other than throwing a party at home. And no, it wasn't another trip to Buenos Aires, but nice guess.
We spent it at the Sheraton Hotel in Cordoba City and had a blast, but I'll talk more about what that was like in my next post.
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