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What are we all doing for Christmas and New Year?

    Since we moved from the Capital out to Escobar we have changed our normal behavior , which was one big party on Xmas Eve and then another smash on Hogmanay.


    4 or 5 of the immediate family had fairly big houses or terraces and we changed the venue every party.


    This year we will have Xmas Eve in a friend's place just a mile away, ( partially because of the threat of rain ) and then Hogmanay will be at one of Mrs GJs cousin's houses in Caballito.


    We will host a lunch one day between the two big days.


    With the new Zero Tolerance drink driving rules already being applied in the province, we may stop over on someone's living room floor after the Hogmanay party....

    We are having the usual asado on Nochebuena, plus a cold buffet with leftovers on Xmas day. Usually, on xmas day we stay by the pool, some friends of my BIL come over to wish him merry xmas and we just hang around.


    For 12/31 we have yet another asado, this time with my BIL friends staying for dinner. Everybody brings something to drink and eat, so that we complement the asado with a cold buffet. We were A LOT last year. I think 25-30 people!


    The zero alcohol policy is an issue. My husband is my designated driver as I stay drunk longer. He has a drink as soon as we arrive and then just drinks soda.

    Quote from Splinter

    It's not my favourite time of year, I have to say, mainly because we always do exactly the same - in-laws for Xmas Eve and in-laws back at our place for New Year.

    I'm working on a plan...

    Excluding the times we spend Christmas in the UK, it used to be the same every year but it isn't any more. It used to be the patriarch, his son and daughter, their sons and daughters and uncles and cousins by marriage in one enormous gathering at one of the houses. Then times changed, the patriarch died, one by one the children married and new husbands, wives and consuegros appeared and it was all a bit too much. I liken it to cellular division on a microscope slide - first one of the cells died and then other groups of cells broke off and started dividing and multiplying.


    Which is all a longwinded way of saying that a slightly reduced set of uncles and cousins and aunts together with some spouses and babies will be meeting as they always did; we will be going to the house of one daughter, her husband and child and so will the husband's family. The other daughter will be going with her husband to her in-laws.


    Then it's all change for New Year!

    I tried in vain to change the venue for Xmas Eve, so it's off to the in-laws again for the 18th time - yawn.

    However, my sister in law mentioned that, for many years, they had wanted to spend NY Eve with some friends, but had always felt obliged to come to our house.

    I like that kind of honesty, so I jumped at the chance of a change. It was suggested that we go them (again) for NY but in the end I asked a good mate, a Brit, to come around with his daughter and fortunately he only lives a few blocks away, so no worries about drink/drive.

    It will be interesting to see how they clamp down on the zero alcohol policy and in fact, Adri's lad will probably drive tomorrow night.

    Besides, I'm not sure I could tolerate an Argentine family gathering without a beer or two.

    I think it is nice to spend NYE with friends rather than with family, just for a change of social scene. In Italy, at least in the North, people go to dine out and do the "cenone" (large dinner) until past midnight. There are dances to drag the dinner until midnight, then at 1-2 AM everybody leaves. It is kind of similar to a wedding celebration when the wedding is in the afternoon.


    The last NYE we spent in Italy, we had friends over for dinner and it was 12 of us. It was nice!

    I will let others tell their experiences, but no Christmas spread in Argentina seems to be complete without Vitel Toné. Although my description can’t possibly do it justice, it is essentially a dish with sliced veal smothered in a white sauce containing tuna and anchovies. I believe it is Italian in origin.


    If we were in Argentina for Christmas, we would definitely want to skip the spread and have a fabulous asado, with every possible cut of beef.


    Merry Christmas to all of you!

    We both ended up with heavy colds but went to the in-laws' anyway for a small family gathering.

    The food was the same as it has been for the last 18 years - Vital Tony, boiled eggs, pionolo, cold chicken and salad - I could have murdered a choripan actually.

    Presents were given at midnight and we finally got back home at 0230 compliments of our designated driver. In fact, I was surprised not to see any police checkpoints seeing as how much had been talked about the zero alcohol law.

    New Year's Eve with friends this year and I'll be doing raclette.

    We awoke to 5 degree on Christmas Eve, wife fixed lunch, and was shared with her sister and brother-in-law, whom journeyed down from Memphis. Christmas day was a little better at 15 degree, needless to say, a lot of time was spent inside but it was a quite day, with just the wife and I. Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!!!!

    Hello everybody,


    Seasons greetings to you all...


    We have had an extended Xmas, as my daughter in law's twin sister and boyfriend flew in on the 24th, so we all had a Boxing day tea.. and moved an antique buffet into my house from the barn we are selling..


    Xmas day was radiantly sunny, so I cleaned the car interior prior to going to Toulouse....


    flying on the 30th and hope to spend the New Year with the family in Misiones.


    Cordialement,

    Covid seems to be on the rise unfortunately.

    The sister of one of Adri's best friends died last week from it, completely out of the blue. She was 60.

    I would either change venues or stay at home with news like that.

    As for us, we're staying at home and letting sis in law have her NY Eve with her friends. I'll be doing Raclette with Adri, her mum, a Brit friend who lives around the corner, and his daughter.

    Besides, we went to the in laws' for Xmas and I felt like a change of scene, even if it meant staying at home.


    Our plans for the holidays were zeroed after both my brother-in-laws tested positive to covid on 12/23. We usually celebrate at the house of one of them because he has the bigger venue in the family.

    After they broke the news to us, on the 24th we went for a stroll and an ice-cream in Tigre (it was 20°C!) and then headed back home, where we cooked the prepizza we had bought for the family dinner to make appetizers.

    I am just glad that I hadn't prepped salsa criolla for 12 as usual.


    We spent the 25 at home eating too much anyway, and then drooling on the sofa between Harry & Meghan's Netflix special and other stuff on Netflix.


    My husband's family said they plan on hosting the NYE party as usual, as the positive-BILs will no longer be contagious by then. My husband doesn't want to attend because he says we'd take an unnecessary risk. Personally, I don't care and will do what my husband wants to do.

    The party is going ahead, although I doubt we will be going.


    As well as the positive of the son of the host, two other close contacts tested positive the same day.


    The "Rules" as we understand them are 5 days of isolation from the first symptom / or the positive test, plus three days of special care ( masks , distancing etc)


    if I go to a party and not get a juicy kiss from Mrs GJs old aunties, I really don't want to go.....

    Which one?