A Pre-Christmas and a Christmas Party

On the 22nd we went to Beto and Naty's home to have dinner.  During the day Patrick and Aiko took the boys to a MacDonald's. They felt at home.

Later in the day went to the Minka market to buy a frozen turkey and a fresh pork shoulder. These were for Chrismas Eve dinner. Afterwards we ate at Naty's. We went for lunch but they were ready for a party.

That sign behind us says "Happy 38th Anniversary, Andy and Olga". A better view.

So here we are on our 38th wedding anniversary.

The next picture is a recreation of one Marlis Momber took of us at Julia Silberger's wedding.

Finally here is a picture of the four of us - ourselves, Beto and Naty.

We had drinks before we ate. Peru is famous for the Pisco Sour cocktail. Equally good or perhaps even better, is Chilcano. Chilcano is made with pisco and ginger-ale with a dash of bitters. What makes it really special is that it is made with infused pisco. Beto does this by putting a cinnamon stick, clove and raisins in the pisco some months in advance. You can make infusions with almost anything. More about that later.

The meal was great, as usual at Naty's house. 

A few days later we went back for Christmas Eve dinner. 

Our official Christmas Eve photo. Our family is growing.

Most of Beto and Naty's family. Another son is missing. It turns out that their oldest son, Tonio, married the proverbial girl next door so while we crowded into one living room, Tonio and his family were 20 feet away in his in-laws living room. 

Again we ate well. You would recognize most of the dishes but one in particular was new to me. It was a potato salad combined with a fruit salad. Quite nice and fresh.

So at midnight we all went into the street and people lit fireworks. The kids were asleep so we hope they will stay awake for New Years Eve. Around 1:30 AM our drive arrived to take us back to the apartment. Atthat point I realized that all 7 adults had walked out of our apartment with no key. As we drove home we called the apartment owner a number of times (around 2 AM) but could only leave a message. We didn't know exactly what we were to do. I envisaged a very expensive night in a hotel. Luckily the doorman has a spare key for the person who cleans between guests. I wish the owner had told us that at check-in. 

We got to bed about 2:30 AM and woke the next morning to chocolate y panneton; a typical Christmas breakfast in Peru and in our family since we were a family. 

Merry Christmas everyone.