The first thing on the schedule was to go grocery shopping for everything we needed to prepare Christmas dinner for the missionaries. Everyone had to go because it takes four of us to carry the bags back to the apartment. You might ask why we seem to be going grocery shopping all the time. Since we have no car and have to carry everything, we can only get small amounts at a time. Also, our refrigerator is very small - so we get lots of exercise! It is difficult to find everything we usually use to make our traditional dishes. I will be substituting ingredients and will hope for the best.
As we were walking home, I wanted to stop by Papái
Noel’s house in the park. Merl had not
met him yet, and he was so worth meeting.
The door was closed, and I was trying to read a sign which gave
information on his schedule and times. I
turned around and almost ran into a man with a short white beard and a red
jacket. My first thought is that he
might be a different Santa Clause coming to work, but instead we learned that
he was Melchor, one of the wisemen in the Christmas pageant; his name is Paulo Fela. We had a fun discussion with him – he knew
enough English that we could understand each other quite well. His son had been an exchange student in
Massachusetts several years earlier. He
and his wife went to the son's high school graduation there, and he has studied
English quite a bit. He likes to
participate in the pageant because all of the people are volunteers and perform
out of love. He feels there is too much
hate in the world and not enough love; he wishes to create more love for
everyone. He invited us to the pageant,
and we readily told him we would be there.
He wished to introduce us to his family.
Later in the afternoon, we went to the church in hopes that some of the piano students would show up. Ann had double-booked a couple of times, so I was going to help out. Fortunately (or not) no one came at those times. So, Merl and I excused ourselves to walk some new streets and the many interesting shops. We stopped back by the shoemaker’s establishment and were unable to communicate enough, so we said we would come back after Christmas. We found some fun shops that had some things we had been looking for (wrapping paper, pencils, rolling pin, bread knife, puzzle). I was hungry for pizza so found a little grocery shop to buy tomato sauce (comes in a plastic bag instead of a can) and some cheese. Of course, I had to go by the bakery to find something wonderful to try (no lunch today), and I wasn’t disappointed – a wonderful chocolate ball with a rich chocolate/caramel center and also a vanilla custard pastry. I had hopes of losing a few pounds here due to all the walking we do, but it may be in vain. As soon as we got home, I started the dough for the pizza crust and chopping the chicken and vegetables. We pulled the pizza out of the oven just in time to grab a piece, and then Merl, Ann, and I (David at a meeting) hurried to take the missionaries one of their gifts, and arrived at the pageant a few minutes late.
We could hear the beautiful singing as we rounded the
corner of the park where an outdoor stage had been set up with wonderful sound
equipment. You could hear the music
throughout the park. It was standing
room only at the 9:00 pm show, so after a quick trip home to eat more pizza
(which David had almost finished), Merl and I went back to the park for the
11:00 show. Incredible! We met with our new friend and his family and
other cast members after the performance and visited until after 12:30 am. 
We continue to find the Brazilian people to be warm and inviting - we are immediately accepted and feel a part of them. Sometimes I think we entertain them with our meager efforts of speaking Portuguese. We do get lots of smiles (and probably laughs when we depart).Then a walk back down the hill and to bed. Tomorrow is another busy day!
(I can't remember when it happened, but sometime today Ann made a beautiful apple pie for Christmas dinner. Our stove/oven is very small so we must plan ahead to have everything ready for the feast.)
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