Greetings and Happy New Year. Let's hope it's better than 2025, which could go down as the worst on record thanks to you know who and his merry band of brown shirts.
This was actually the first Christmas we spent in Porto, of the four we've experienced since moving here. I can confirm that we ate too much, drank too much (probably me more than Nick), and generally partied with friends for most of the month, right up through New Year's Eve. Earlier in December we took a vintage Christmas train day trip to see the World's largest Santa, per the Guinness Book of World Records. It was quite a fun day, stopping first in Macinhata do Vouga to visit a train museum. Along the route, from Aveiro to Macinhata, we were greeted by the locals living along the route and waving to the train. This vintage train travels on a particular narrow gauge track from years ago, so it's not regularly used anymore. The museum was a fascinating look at how the former dictator, Salazar, made changes to trains over his almost 50 year reign, forcing the middle class to travel in third class, after eliminating all second class seats and comforts. As we arrived there, the locals were at the train station to play traditional Portuguese music, dance, and had little Christmas faire booths set up to shop. We were treated to small pastries from the local area we well. After touring the museum, we again boarded the train and headed to Águeda, a charming town inland that is known for its amazing Christmas lights and displays. The giant Santa was really quite spectacular, standing at 69 feet tall and covered in 250,000 LED lights.
The town also holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the smallest Santa, however with the crowds and long lines, we had to skip it. However, I'm including a picture of it from online in the link below... this was crafted on the inside of the head of a needle. Who thinks of doing something like this??? You can read about it and see it here: https://www.itv.com/news/2017-12-06/meet-the-worlds-smallest-santa-claus-the-latest-micro-sculpture-by-willard-wigan
On New Year's Eve we were invited by our neighbor across the hall, Luis, to a small gathering with his friends. This is the second time we've been included in an all Portuguese party, so we were quite honored to be invited. Fortunately, I had just learned the day prior of some "rules" and/or superstitions that the Portuguese follow for New Year's so we both wore blue underwear and carried money in our pockets. Once at the party, everyone confirmed that they too were wearing blue underwear and, anyone who didn't have money in their pocket was given a euro for that purpose. We all chose to skip the one about eating 12 raisins, one at each strike of the clock at midnight. Having grown up in the "raisin capital of the world" I know better than to eat them. Fireworks were going off all around our area at midnight and at the same time we watched the huge fireworks display held in downtown Porto on the local tv station. After that, the dancing started! Nick managed to speak mostly Portuguese the entire evening! He's really becoming fluent, whereas me, not so much I'm afraid.
Since I started writing this piece I came down with a horrible cough and cold which rendered me fairly useless for the past 6 days. I might now hold the record for the most sneezes by a human being. 🤧 Hence, I'm just getting back to finishing this. Amazingly, there was just enough time in between the start of my illness and the pathetic POS in the WH to invade Venezuela for the oil (it has nothing to do with drugs) and to threaten how many other countries?...I've lost count. Way to go MAGA voters! Anyone not horrified at the current state of affairs there...those people horrify me the most.
Will the Epstein files ever be fully released???
Today is January 7, 2026 and we still have not received our new resident cards. In two more days it will be a year since they expired. 😡🤯😩
Stay healthy and safe.
Adeus, abraços e beijos,
MaryLou