Deck the halls with boughs of...

...asparagus? Strawberry plants? Sunflowers? Certainly no real holly to be found here in an increasingly blazing summer in Chile, although oddly enough many of the northern hemisphere's Christmas traditions persist despite their apparent incongruity with the meteorological season. Thus we find model snowmen adorning people's gardens, depictions of reindeer pulling sleighs and plenty of Father Christmases dressed up in shopping malls or climbing up buildings. Last Saturday in Jumbo, our local supermarket, many of the staff were dressed as Father Christmas or his elves as "White Christmas" crooned out overhead to get us in the mood, the air-conditioning turned up full blast while outside the temperatures approached 32°C.
In a way it doesn't seem quite so strange this year as we've been through it before; indeed we are managing to recreate a festive atmosphere reasonably successfully this time. Perhaps it helps that we are in our own home with all our own belongings including three boxes of Christmas decorations acquired over the years... As DD1 broke up for an almost three-month-long summer holiday last week, we immediately set to work on our eco-tree and have now an interesting cardboard sculpture on our terrace which has been painted green and decorated with our lighter Christmas ornaments. We have made and illustrated cards, wrapped presents for teachers, made paper snowflakes and of course attacked the Advent calendars with great enthusiasm. One week of the school holidays gone, ten more to go... Meanwhile DD2 has been valiantly soldiering on at her nursery, lured in part by the prospect of a visit from Father Christmas himself, puzzlingly here in Chile referred to as "el viejito pascuero"... However tomorrow is her last day, with Spanish-language carols in the evening an invitation we cannot refuse...
A performance of the Nutcracker last weekend helped to conjure up some Christmas magic with both girls mesmerised by the dancing, the story, the scenery and of course the music. Unfortunately there was no live orchestra but a decent recording which was however inexplicably interrupted every now and then for some very impromptu editing. Another Chilean moment...