The Great Christmas Tree Hunt

 My favorite holiday is not Christmas, Thanksgiving or the 4th of July.  It is not even a real holiday.  My favorite holiday is the family tradition of finding a Christmas tree.  On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, my family invites friends to our town.   We pack chain-saws, children, food and sleds into the trucks and we drive up the mountain roads.  Here we begin our hunt for the perfect tree.  The adults begin walking on the snow covered roads looking for trees.  











The kids take the sleds and find a steep hill to sled down.   Dogs run and chase the sleds.  There are snowball fights and skiing.

We start a fire to cook chili and heat hot chocolate.

We choose and cut down a tree for each family.  The trees are chosen based on their shape, color and foliage.  

We haul the trees back to the cars.   

And load them on top of the trucks.  It is the end of the day and many of the kids are cold and tired.  We return to our homes to have hot showers, and sit by the fire and play card games.

In the coming weeks, we will decorate the trees with ornaments and lights for Christmas.  

BLACK FRIDAY.....

Today is known as Black Friday in the United States.

The Friday following Thanksgiving is the biggest (most popular) shopping day of the year.   People storm the stores to buy presents for Xmas (Christmas).  The malls are packed and competition is fierce among people.  Often times there are arguments, fights and one time there was a death due to the competition between shoppers.  It is all part of the jolly spirit of the Holidays.

I usually stay home and get ready to go out for my family's Saturday after Thanksgiving tradition of Xmas tree hunting in the mountains.

Thanksgiving!

The 4th Thursday of November is celebrated as Thanksgiving in the United States.

During this time, families, friends and loved ones come together to give thanks for their blessing in the world.  The main activity of the day is a large dinner.  Families prepare food and before eating discuss what they are thankful for.  The  center piece of the dinner is a large turkey.  Other traditional foods that accompany the turkey are mashed potatoes, squash, cranberry sauce and corn.  For dessert we have pumpkin pie.

Most Americans recognize the first Thanksgiving as being held in 1621 by the Pilgrims in Plymouth with the Wampanoag tribe of Native Americans.  There were 13 pilgrims and 90 Native Americans who gave thanks for their crops.  In 1863 during the Civil War, Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a National Holiday and it has been held ever since.

My mother, grandmother and aunts bake the best pies.  I will miss them today as I teach classes and think about my family gathering, children playing, aunts and uncles cooking and cousins wrestling back in the USA.
What are you thankful for?
I am thankful for my family, my health, the opportunity to live and teach in Brazil, and the rice and beans I will eat tonight.

Grass and the Slip and Slide

On Saturday I was lounging and talking with students on the new grass at UFT.  This brought back memories of my college in the United States.  Between classes, the students sat on the grass playing games, chatting or studying.  We threw frisbees and played music. In the winter, we had snowball fights on the frozen grass. And in the summer, there were water fights and the slip n' slide.

 Here is an awesome video of the slip n' slide:  http://vimeo.com/27554233

Fall

In the Fall, everything begins to prepare for winter.
The leaves of the trees turn to a bright red and then fall.  Birds migrate to southern climates.  Squirrels store food for the winter.  We put away our summer tools and our garden supplies.  My family cuts and stacks firewood.  We put vegetables and squashes into the cellar.  We jar fruits and vegetables to eat through the winter.  There is less sunlight each day.  We hunt for deer, grouse, quail and ducks.  Eventually the rains turn to snow and winter has arrived.