En julehistorie

I'm from Argentina. We celebrate Christmas in a similar way to what is done in Europe or the US. There's a tradition of Santa Claus giving presents and, like the Danish, we celebrate the Christmas eve more than Christmas day. We gather with the family (which in most cases implies meetings of around twenty persons, as I remember when I was a kid) in the evening and have dinner with the presents being opened between 9pm and midnight depending on the age of the smallest child in the family.

Of course in Argentina in December it's very hot so it's a bit weird to have a bearded fat man in warm red clothes, but I guess the imagery is so powerful that kids believe anything is possible as long as they receive their presents. And appropriately we dine with a cold buffet that features some “exotic” fares that most of us never eat outside of the holiday season.

In the fall of 2009 I spent a sabbatical term at Columbia University and my wife joined me in December. She loves New York, snow, and this was her first White Christmas. She was excited about everything, but mostly for seeing the traditional pines being sold in the street. She thought that this belonged to the fantasy of Hollywood. So we bought the smallest one and took it to our apartment. And for her sake that month we had a lot of snow (which of course was a nuisance to me since I had to walk about ten blocks to my office).

We spent Christmas eve on our own eating almost ordinary food. But in retrospect I think it was one of our most memorable one. And it prepared us to enjoy the spirit with which it is celebrated in Denmark. It is the best antidote to the November blues that characterize the beginning of the short dark winter days. And it almost makes me change my mind about flying to hot Buenos Aires for the holidays. Almost.