TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN


I may be writing about Christmas because today is the day I settled to decorate the house with all the ornaments we already had and the ones we bought recently, planning to make the atmosphere a bit more vivid than the last years. It´s funny how your mood has a definite influence in your decoration for Christmas - Christmases I´ve had with no trees at all, some with many lights and colors and others with just a little golden angel on the door to greet neighbors who might take our moody disposition as an offense.

Christmas in Brazil happens to be in the Summer, when the temperature is high and everybody has already got a tan. What is worse, it´s the very beginning of Summer, which makes you feel like you´re getting ready for something, for a time of change. We go shopping wearing colorful clothes, most people showing off sensual bodies and a healthy attitude. Sex is in the air, I must say, wherever you go. More people go to cafés after work, to talk about how busy they are with their Christmas shopping. They pretend to exchange opinions and tips on where to buy things, they boast of where they´re going to travel right after Christmas, and, they also make new acquaintances more easily and more quickly. In fact, they allow themselves to be bolder and unprejudiced. This is Summer. Christmas just happens to be in the middle of it, restraining many people from doing what they feel like doing driven by the effects of the sun and the lively atmosphere. It´s a break in our attitudes, making us think about family, friends and morals. For about two weeks we live this dramatic contrast, and then, after New Year`s Eve, the quiet is over. The storm comes back with vacations, generally, or a continuation of Summer itself, with all its sensual factors. A sense of freedom usually prevails above other feelings in the month of January, as a strong determination to be happy, even if you just have a short time to do that.
A funny thing is the decoration itself, so influenced by the movies and magazines, and so on. We put up pine trees that emerge from snow (!) and we have our men dressed as Santas who can´t help but perspiring and longing for the moment they´ll be wearing their bermudas again ... Many people have, at least, changed their Christmas menu, but many others still buy those dry fruits which are so expensive and inadequate to our climate. It´s Christmas. It´s Brazil.



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