The big wind down.
The Lonely Planet team is officially on winter break. For me, that means a week of afternoon reading, losing track of what day it is, eating mince pies at all hours and catching up with family and friends.
The build up to this week of relaxation has been just as nice, listening to everyone’s plans. Some are brilliantly quirky, like Acacia’s: “My mom is Jewish, and my dad is Catholic, so we open gifts by the Christmas tree in the morning, then go to the movies and eat Chinese food at night. But our biggest tradition is ‘Trilogy Day’ with our family friends. I'm talking 14 hours of Lord of the Rings extended editions, Tolkien decor, people quoting the films line by line. It’s a good excuse to snuggle up in the safety of our homes rather than in the fires of Mordor.”
Some traditions are familiar to me, like Sarah, our winter baby from Colorado, who goes skiing with her family each year. Others are new. There’s Beatriz, who’s flying home to Portugal, where she’ll have her dad’s bacalhau à Brás (“it’s tradition to have bacalhau, a salted cod dish, at Christmas dinner”) and stop by Rossio’s festive market for a ginjinha (cherry liqueur) served in a chocolate cup.
And Ester will be home in Finland, where “on Christmas Eve, we take a morning sauna, then eat rice porridge with a hidden almond. Whoever gets it has to do a dare.”
Happy holidays from us!
