Happy Holidays

Lately, I have been hearing a lot of envious comments from friends about how we are so lucky with the sunshine and the nice temperatures, and how they are so sick and tired of the grey, rainy autum weather in Germany.

Well, guys, first of all, don’t forget that we also had our share of cold and grey this year – in July and August, when you were sporting a tan and enjoying the summer temperatures. O.K., O.K., this year the summer in Germany was pretty shitty, but theoretically you could have … you know what I mean.

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that we all have our fair share of good weather and bad weather, so no need to grumble. And this northern and southern hemisphere thing has one aspect to it where you guys in the north are at a clear advantage. You have Christmas in December – and I am talking about a proper December. You know, with Christmas decorations, the Christmas markets, and of course the Glühwein.

Here in Buenos Aires, the average temperature is around 27 degrees, with sunshine and blue skys most of the time. And if the sky is cloudy, we still have 80 % of tropical humidity in which you break out in a sweat with every move. So we are really struggling very hard to work up a Christmas spirit.

To make matters worse, the Argentineans don’t fall victim to the decoration frenzy of the US Americans whose reindeer sleighs and blinking Santas can easily make you forget even the palm trees in Miami Beach. No, here in Argentina, the Christmas decorations are limited to the shopping malls, with a big Christmas tree and a Santa’s grotto where kiddies can have their picture taken while sitting on the bearded man’s lap. And as to private houses … zero. So far, we are the only ones in the neigbourhood that have gotten the house ready for the first advent Sunday on November 27^th. The wreath is on the door, the tree is standing in our bay window, the stockings are on the mantle piece … and we are feeling a bit weird. Hubbie even toyed with the idea of leaving the house through the adjoining gardens because he thinks the neighbours are secretely laughing at us. But that would really be weird, so I could talk him out of it.

No, it really is a struggle, and so far we are a bit on the loosing side.Let’s face it – decorating the tree in shorts and flip-flops at 30 degrees is awful – and listening to Mariah singing “All I want for Christmas” doesn’t really change that. Lightening red candles in the glaring sunlight is not very christmassy either, and not even switching on the Christmas tree at night can do the trick. Not with the bright lights in front of the house that are supposed to scare away potential burglars and ruin th effect of the twinkly lights in the tree.

So no more envious nagging, okay, just be thankful and enjoy the festive season. As for me, help is at hand. I am flying to Germany today where I will have enough time to catch up and get in the right mood.

Next year we are not flying home, so I am thinking about moving the whole affair to the Argentinean winter, celebrating the holidays in June and forgetting the whole thing in December. Actually, I don’t think it should be too hard. (Just kidding!)