These girls have been great friends at school. We didn't realize until recently that Nicoly's dad works with Kevin. Oftentimes I see the moms or dads pick up the kids, but I don't always know where they work or with whom. When we showed up at the DMAT Christmas party, Emma was ecstatic to see not just Nicoly, but two other classmates there as well!! Since the other two were boys, Emma spent most of her time running around with Nicoly. They even waited in line together for Papai Noel (Santa Claus) to bring their gifts!
Sometimes life here seems so normal that I forget that we live in a foreign country. Then, something happens that reminds me that we are most definitely living in a different place. First off, the Christmas party we went to started at 8pm (Emma's normal bedtime). No big deal. We're used to parties starting late here. We knew dinner would be served; we just didn't know when. At 9:30pm, my stomach was growling and we were all starving. Guess I should have remembered that they like to eat late here! Finally, around 10pm, we all sat down to eat. There were sixteen tables and two tables were called at a time to go through the buffet line. I was about to eat my fingers off when they called our number first!! Whew! I inhaled my food and felt much better. The kids ran around and played with the balloons that had been used for decorations. Emma had taken a nap, so she was feeling fine, but still, I felt like it was getting really late. We knew Santa was supposed to make an appearance, so I didn't want to take off before he came, but the minutes kept ticking by. Finally, sometime after 11:30pm, Papai Noel entered the room and the children went crazy! It was fun to see Emma wait so patiently with Nicoly. She gave Santa a huge hug when he gave her a present. It was close to midnight when she brought her gift to me to unwrap. She tore the paper off, smiled at her box of chocolates and then asked if she could go to bed. We left shortly after midnight, leaving Kevin behind to wrap things up. He came home around 1am and said they were just getting the party started!! Crazy Brazilians!
