The Lord was so good to us and blessed us beyond expectation, this first Christmas in Portugal. Even though we were unprepared and not ready this year (dealing with sickness and changes in "our" plans), God went before us and gave us a Christmas that we will always hold dear in our hearts.
Don and I were both sick the week before Christmas (on our vacation days from language class) with bronchitis and flu. It was on those off days that we'd hoped to shop and get ready for Christmas (language school made it very difficult to have any extra time to do much other than the absolutely necessary errands). We'd not had time to decorate, get a tree, or even get a bed for the extra bedroom for our daughter, Anna, to sleep on when she got here. Anna's flight was canceled and rescheduled to be in on Christmas Eve, another thing out of our control (and at the time disappointing) and something we just added to the list of "acceptance", giving it to the Lord and thinking "we knew this would be a different Christmas". But that didn't mean that the Lord wasn't already working on a special Christmas for us.
Our Portuguese friends, Rui and Susana, asked us to come for their Christmas Eve (both sets of their parents and Rui's sister were there, too) and we experienced a traditional Portuguese Christmas dinner. The meal consists of bacalhau (cod fish), couve (a type of cabbage) and other greens, peeled whole potatoes, and traditional bread. The fish, greens, and potatoes are all boiled together in the same pot. They serve it with a sauce made of olive oil, onions, garlic, salt and pepper and vinegar. Not what we were used to at all, but we were pleasantly surprised with the flavors and enjoyed the meal. They then cleared the table and set out an array of soubremesas (desserts) and doces (sweets) - all different from what we had ever had and all were home made except for the Bolo Rei ("King" cake) which is somewhat like our fruitcake in the States.
Their tradition is to eat late and we started around 9pm and stayed at the table until after 11pm. They knew we were going to slip out before the evening was over because of Anna's having come in that afternoon and needing to get some sleep. When Anna's head began to bob, Rui's father gave Anna a Portuguese word. He said, "Anna - Cama! (bed)" As we got ready to leave they said to wait, and proceeded to pull from under their tree, gifts that had been wrapped and had our names on them. They sent us home with gifts to open and later when we had opened them, we found that they were not just small gifts but ones that made us almost embarrassed with their generosity. Anna said something about our coming to Portugal to help others and then said, "but it looks like it's the other way around."
Then a few days before Christmas we were invited to go to another family's home (an American couple with two young daughters) in a town about 45 minutes from Lisbon for Christmas Day. We rode over with another couple and had a traditional American Christmas meal (with just a few improvisations on some of the dishes). It has been just long enough that having the "familiar" food and fellowship for our first Christmas away from home was a needed blessing. It turned out to be a cold, rainy day, but the food, fellowship, and time spent sitting in front of the fireplace was just wonderful. Don was even able to "re-live" time spent with our children by playing with Legos and Polly Pockets with the little girls. Watching them was like a trip back in time to the days when our youngest daughters were those ages and another reminder of how much the Lord blessed us with our own four children.
How good the Lord has been to us. It has not been easy to adjust and adapt to another culture but as we go, we are finding that God is providing for us in unexpected ways and always has a plan for the moment. This was a Christmas that we will never forget.
