In The Tree

Another family tradition is Christmas decoration. Ever since my brother and I were past the Santa Claus believing age, we’ve helped my father decorate the tree on the night of the 23rd. It’s a tradition that we still observe today, every year. My brother puts on the Bing Crosby Christmas album, we sample the cookies we just made (just to make sure they’re good enough for the 24th), and then my brother gets the candles for the tree and I set up the belén.

And then we get out the ornaments and decorate the tree – candle holders first, and then the wooden little figures. We don’t have baubles or garlands or tinsel, we just have an ever-expanding collection of little wooden figurines – angels and horses and sleighs and Santa Clauses. And this one:

 

Seeing the Signs

During all of our childhood, my mother made a calendar for me and my brother. Those “Adventskalender” consist of 24 little chocolates, wrapped up and stashed away in a little wooden house with 24 little doors, one for each day of December until the 24^th (German Christmas).

The most important thing was throwing the dice or a coin to decide who would get the even or the uneven numbers (the even numbers were more popular because you got to open the last package when the other one had already used up all their numbers). And then, every day, one of us opened one of the little doors and unwrapped the little present, which always held two chocolates: one for my brother, and one for me.

 

Two Men

It may not have been the Tango Capital of the world, but Argentina is a diverse country, and its diversity just got a bit more legal standing with José Maria DiBello and Alex Freyre getting married at last.

After their wedding on World Aids Day in Buenos Aires had been forbidden in a rather petty looking last minute effort, a second try with less media frenzy worked out in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego – thanks to the progressive Lady Governor (coverage – thanks, Susana! – can be found via Página12; with a background article here).

 

Single Man

Apart from the usual holiday family dinners with cousins and uncles who haven’t seen all year and whom you’d be perfectly happy not to see before 2010, either, I had some spare time to catch up with old friends over the past few days.

 

Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays to all visitors of “Operación Botones”!

With Patri and me celebrating Christmas apart (not the apart part, only the Christmas part), the late evenings are long and lonely. With that extra time on my hands, I took a look at my blog statistics – something I usually don’t do. I always assume that this blog has about five readers, most of them from Spain (and one from Argentina).

 

Little Feet

Getting married does not seem to be the deciding point when it comes to where and with whom you will be for the holidays – just as in previous years, Patri has gone to see her parents and siblings (and the dog), while I am traveling to see my parents and my brother and , hopefully, Aunt Emmy. In case homophobic cousin G. shows up, I’ll probably have to run around with my right hand in my pocket all night,  both for keeping myself from punching him and to keep my wedding ring from showing because I really don’t want to take it off.