Grandchildren, Family and Christmas 2016

Zoey, our 26 month old granddaughter, is adorable, adventurous and doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything…and she understands two languages!

Ezra, our nine month old grandson, is cute, happy and growing fast!

We arrived at the Lisbon airport on Christmas Eve day. We hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address of our AirB&B apartment we had rented for the week. He dropped us off two blocks away since the apartment is on a street closed to traffic. He unloaded our luggage, gave us walking directions and drove away. We juggled our luggage, followed the directions, and found the apartment. The manager was there to give us the keys and instructions. We asked where we could buy groceries and we asked about a church where we might attend a Christmas Eve service. We didn’t make it to the church service…jet lag kept us away…it would have been a Catholic midnight mass – in Portuguese.

We settled in and then went out to find the grocery store. We knew we had to buy for the next two days since the store would be closed on Christmas. We picked out things we could recognize… chicken breasts, rice, frozen carrots, bread, eggs and some cinnamon type toast to take the place of our traditional cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning.

Our oldest son and his wife chose to stay in a hotel two blocks away from our apartment. After they settled in they came over and we waited for a call from our youngest son and his family. The call came and, of course, their taxi driver dropped them off at a different location a couple blocks away. They told us the name of the street so the four of us set out on a hunt to find them. They had to be within a two-block radius.  Rua Augusta, was the street name they gave us and as we turned the corner – joy! – there they were standing their with their two young ones waiting to be found. It was a great reunion.

The next morning after not-so-good cinnamon toast, we read the Christmas story the children opened gifts and I brought a gift for everyone– warm and cozy slippers.

We sat down to a delicious meal. Our daughter-in-love took the few spices that were in the apartment kitchen and made a tasty chicken marinade with rice and carrots.

Later that evening, after dark, we walked to Rua Augusta (a pedestrian mall) and joined the throngs of people out on this pleasant Christmas evening. We walked to the plaza along the Rio Tejo where there was a tall, colorfully lit Christmas tree and vendors roasting chestnuts on an open fire (grill) which we tried and liked.

It was a very festive and wonderful European Christmas.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6