Every December, I try to get through the month as quickly as possible. December can’t go fast enough for me. This year, it really sped things up to travel for the first part, except that a massive editing job landed on my plate just hours before we left for Madeira, a project that must be finished before we leave again next week for Lyon. Until then, I’ll be camped out in front of my computer for untold hours, and taking breaks by trying to catch up on this blog. (Emphasis on trying.)
Since I doubt there will be enough time to take any more Christmas 2016 photos before Christmas Day, I thought I would revisit the December 2015 files since that month was a total blur for different reasons — a hectic, cold-filled blur. Casa Aguiar was hit with a double bout of nasty illnesses for the whole month of December that put us behind in everything, during which time a family member had passed away. We attended a funeral at the home village when we least expected to go (we were there only a few weeks before), a few days before we were due to fly. We were still buying Christmas presents for the trip to Canada until the 11th hour, because some of the things we’d made and ordered didn’t arrive on time. I had a bone-rattling cough which stuck around forever, through very long flights and short ones, too — Amsterdam, Vancouver, Seattle, Kelowna, and the rest of the trip. Travelling while sick is the pits.
Maia City Hall
Anyway, that paragraph was a clumsy segue to a few pictures from last Christmas that weren’t posted, photos taken while running errands. I will try, after we return from France, to see more of the City of Porto’s Christmas program (PT) before it wraps up at the end of the first week of January as there are more light displays than last year. The City has also installed two ice rinks, at Rotunda da Boavista and Praça da Batalha. We passed by Boavista a few days ago, and between the skating rink and the amusement rides, it’s lit up like a beacon. If you are in Porto or will be for the Christmas season, here’s the program of events in PDF, which is also in English.
The next few pictures were taken in Praça da Batalha last year, with Ice the Dog distracted by the flashing lights and high-pitched sounds. The last picture is in front of an ice cream shop called Ice Lovers, where the staff wear wedding dresses. What that has to do with ice cream I have no idea, but if they in need of a mascot, we have a very cute one right here.
{ More photos in the Autumn 2015 album. }
Album: Portugal [Autumn 2015]
