Holiday Roadside Cheer and Celebration

As fun time-limited assignment, a few weeks ago the kids' teachers gave me 1 day to find a specific cloth (pano de chão) that is wrapped around a broom and used clean floors- the preferred method over mopping. My first instinct was to give them dish rags, followed by old hospital-issue baby blankets, but my conscience got the best of me and I got to work. My Portuguese dictionary wasn't particularly helpful, Google Translate and Images helped a little but I ended up asking the class online Moms' Group just to be sure I wouldn't embarrass my children more than I already do. To my relief, a number moms had no idea what a "pano de chão" was or where to buy them either. 

At any rate, these cloths aren't often sold in stores. Instead, they are better found on the roadside, along with dish towels, fedoras, and other assorted goods sold to passersby. (I saw someone selling a coat rack once!) I remembered seeing one particular stop light that probably sold them. I headed out on foot one morning with the children and dog, dodging traffic, people and potholes to make my purchase. The cloths ended up being made into decorative sacks for Christmas, a cute project actually. 

So when last week the kids came home from school with orders to bring Santa hats for their last day before the holiday break it was a nice surprise considering I had nearly a whole week! I also laughed at this request knowing full well neither one of them would wear a hot and itchy hat without putting up a fight. (But then again, my daughter insists on wearing underwear on her head in public, so I never really know.) 

Of course, when I was faced with finding a Santa hat, I should have known it would be a venture to the roadside stands instead of the mall. But I hadn't spied anything on my walks, so I went to the mall where I got to experience a few things: the agony of persistent sales pitches, the luring of gobby soft serve and acai puree every 30 feet, and the screaming of adolescents working at a pet shop who discovered the gory cannibalism of hamsters. I will never look at a Habitrail again without seeing tiny guts spattered against the translucent plastic walls. All this fun- and no hats.

I suppose patience is a virtue because not one day later, a myriad of road side stands popped up ready to sell! sell! sell! The shops, side-by-side were all advertising shiny, red, polyester holiday cheer. Glittering in the hot sun, the selections and sizes were impressive. What I like best about these shops is that they also sell fireworks. All the highly flammable material we need to ring in the holidays right in one spot. I asked one of the vendors which products were the best sellers. Without missing a beat she told me she regularly sells out of the "Saint Peter Fireworks Combo Packs." I picked out the obligatory hats and marvelled at the adorableness of it all. "Here in Brazil," the woman told me, "they love this end-of-year celebration and that they do it well- just wait and see." Lucky (or maybe unlucky) for me, we will have front row seats to observe the magic she described as "pure joy and hope" on the beach for Christmas and New Years: fireworks, dancing, and drinking all night long.

"No smoking and no dropping fireworks close to the barraca."

Sao Pedro: he's #1

She recommended these sparklers for my children.
These fat suckers put my childhood sparklers to shame.

Knocked him down. Twice. 

The only red shirt I could find for Margo had was her Eric Cantona shirt.
I think that is a fabulous way to celebrate Christmas, personally.