Guest blogger: Dave's Mum. We have celebrated Christmas in many different ways in quite a few countries and this year is at the top of the list as perhaps one of the most special and most unusual! Above alI it is a wonderful joy to be together with our family who we’ve been apart from for too many years. This Christmas was celebrated in a beautiful resort on the beach south of Recife with Rachel’s family. (Sorry for everyone back home struggling with snow and freezing temperatures!) We had our own family time of worship and giving gifts which was great, but I guess we did miss the joint worship with other believers and singing the familiar Christmas carols. Nevertheless we have been overwhelmed by love and generosity on all sides and feel thoroughly spoiled. God has been so gracious in sending His Son the Lord Jesus at Christmas to bring us salvation and He continues to pour out wonderful blessings as we follow Him.

Sally Maclure

Mum and Dad are here! I've not had the time to even say this - but Mum and Dad arrived positively on time at Natal airport on Sunday lunchtime. We've had a great, if full, few days. Nelson seems to be handling the English coming at him from his other Grandparents quite well. Gloria has learned to clap which impresses her Grandparents no end. I haven't told him yet, but I may try and get Dad to "guest" blog on here.

Christmas blogging. I'm expecting this may slow down a bit over Christmas as we'll be travelling and doing a lot. So, wishing everyone a happy Christmas and fantastic New Year if I don't get many opportunities to say so...

5 lessons about life I learned over Christmas and New Year...

1. When you are 90, you can be late for your own party. Just before Christmas Nelson's great great Grandma celebrated her 90th birthday. On the big day the family had booked a function room. After lunch people were beginning to scratch their head - everyone was around, but where was the lady herself, Bemvinda. When somebody went round to her house to pick her up she allegedly wasn't there, rumoured to be at the hairdresser. Eventually, the AWOL matriach was located and she turned up in time for a special church service in her honour. It was a great occasion, click here for some excellent pictures taken by a relative of Rachel's which give an idea of the day.

2. The great thing about being a Dad to a little boy is I can enjoy his presents. Nelson has been totally in love with the Disney Pixar film "Cars" after his Grandmum bought him the DVD a couple of months ago. Christmas presents this year featured matchbox versions of the films characters much to Nelson's (and his Dad's) delight. We have a way to go to collect the whole set but we're on the way. I bought Nelson two yesterday and he practically arm-wrestled the shop assistant in the Toy Shop for the packages before they were paid for. Secretly, I was as excited as him. Nelson also got a remote control car for Christmas (yeeessss!!!!) and a model garage with ramps (hoorraayyy!!!!!).

3. Anglicans do Christmas very well. I probably knew this already, but when in Recife we attended the Anglican church in Piedade we had gone to when we first arrived in Brazil. Rach and I loved it and felt transported briefly into the pews of St.Mikes once more.

4. Children don't respect a lie-in on New Years day. After watching Recife's fireworks from the roof of Rachel's apartment block, I made it to bed quasi-comotose at 1am. Nels was up like a spark at 5.30am wanting to play with his new toys and run around with the two miniature schnauzers. As I said at the time, "Nelson, you have the crazed look of a boy who hasn't had enough sleep and has had too many presents". Between the hours of 5.30am and 8.30am I baby-sat the lad while the whole world slept. Nelson zonked out for a nap at the end of that time and I took the opportunity to catch some shut-eye too.

5. T-shirts are the standard Christmas gift in Brazil. Whereas it may be wooly socks or ties in England, a T-shirt is the covers-all-bases present for Brazilians. As the gringo of the family who people are still unsure of what to buy, I got a host of most excellent cotton T-shirts.

Theo's pictures of sand dunes. As has already been mentioned one of the best things about this part of Brazil is the proliferation of sand dunes. Theo took some ace photos, two of which are here. The first is of Natal's most famous landmark, the Morro de Careca (bald man's hill). The second is from a place called Maracajau. At Genipabu beach you can hire a buggy+driver to take you out on the sand for a rollercoaster experience and a chance to sample the extraordinary scenery and views. Ruth Leckenby described her experience like this. Anyway, I've added two videos to my YouTube account to give you guys an idea of what it's all about. Video 1 is the view from outside the buggy. Video 2 is the view from the inside. See if you can spot a yelling Theo and Tom in the back seats on the latter.

Christmas survey. This Christmas I will be without these usual British Christmas things a) mince pies and mulled wine b) cold weather c) the Queen's speech d) Boxing Day. None of these things exist in north-east Brazil. Of course, we have church and a chance to celebrate the real reason for Christmas, so I'm happy. But, which of those things would you say were (nearly) essential to giving you that Christmas feeling back home? Go on, vote!

Things I miss about England #60: Toilets don't block so easily, and you can flush toilet paper. Guests to Brazil from the UK or USA are often horrified to find that when you get here you are not supposed to put used toilet paper down the loo. When you're doing a number 2, and after you finished your business, any toilet paper you feel you need to use to... well, you know... has to be wrapped up and put in the bin. In part due to the visit of Tom and Theo who carried out the necessary toilet procedures in thoroughly British ways, and in part due to our forgetfulness while on the john and also the erroneous assumption we harboured that by living in a house as opposed to an apartment we were somehow more exempt from this sanitary protocol, our toilets - actually, one in particular - became thoroughly blocked last week. With rubber gloves on, a small and ultimately useless plunger in hand and a peg on my nose, I attempted to fix the stench-inducing problem. My best efforts resulted in little more than the discovery of a cockroach under the rim of the bowl so we had to call in a man. In the man came, and he fixed all our upstairs toilets (all 3 of them) saying that the other two were reaching the point of no return too. So, it's all sorted and we won't be flushing paper down the loo no more.

Things I love about Brazil #54: cheap labour. The cost of our toilet repairs: R$100 (about £25). A small price to pay for fully functioning commodes, I guess... The low cost of labour makes service provision very cheap in Brazil. This week we've had to rely on it in different ways. For example, apart from the toilet episode, we were able leave Nelson at a playgroup with a babysitting for half an hour at the shopping centre so we could get our Christmas shopping done (cost R$4 or £1). Rachel got our car totally cleaned inside and out (cost R$10 or £2.50) and Nelson has been constantly impressed by the small army of brass band players performing Christmas hits, the clowns, chaps on stilts, the Father Christmas', the Santa's little helpers all on hand to entertain him and his young colleagues at the shopping centre (cost to us zero!).

Christmas away. Tomorrow Rach, Nelson and I drive to Joao Pessoa for festivities proper with all Rachel`s extended family. Nelson`s great great granny Bemvinda is celebrating her 90th birthday too and a Brazil vs Rest of the World footy match will be taking place at some point to commemorate this. After Christmas we will be by the beach at a resort with Rach's immediate family. Anyway, the upshot of all this is I think I will rest the blog until after new year... it`s in need of a bit of a rehaul too, so watch this space in January for a new look, swisher blog. In the meantime, why note vote on the new poll to the left. Have a wonderful Christmas whoever you are, wherever you are, and a blessed New Year!

Things I miss about England #100: the weather. Most of the time I do not in the slightest bit miss the English weather, the constant threat of drizzle, the slab of gray that covers the sky for most of the months between August and May and the fact that it'ss dark when you go to work and dark when you get home and worst of all that feeling when you're in bed that one inch either side of your already shivering limbs will touch iceberg-like bed sheets. Put it this way, in Brazil I have never had to turn my car headlights on at noon as I once did in York. OK, but sometimes I do miss the variety of the seasons and especially at Christmas I feel the season's festivities aren't quite complete when you can't genuinely sing "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas". Here, the shopping malls are full of fake snow in their Santa's grotos, but the only white Christmas we're getting is a dusting from the nearest sand dune.

Things I love about Brazil #6: the weather. I love tropical weather, I feel better, healthier, fitter, more productice (cit. Radiohead), I see more clearly (seriously, I hardly wear my prescriptions), I get up with a spring in my step and the cold water coming out of the shower first thing in the morning is a refreshing treat, not punishment for sins, as it is in the UK.

Things I miss about England #95: mince pies and mulled wine. For most of the year I wouldn't notice this small luxury, but mince pies and mulled wine are conspiciously absent from my consumable Christmas options and this is a shame.

Things I love about Brazil #25: informal dress codes. I've just come back from the end of semester Christmas do. I was MC-ing the event in English with Amy doing the Portuguese. I was the only man there sporting a tie. Brazilians are relaxed, and from a small town like Natal, even more so. I'm glad I didn't pack a dinner jacket, bow tie or any such regalia when we moved out here. None of that faff would ever see the light of day round here.

Christmas lights on Brazil's biggest Christmas tree. We live about 200 yards from Brazil's biggest Christmas tree. It`s not real, it's basically a big pole with Christmas lights hanging off it (see pic downloaded from today's local paper). This being "Natal" (which means Christmas in Portuguese) the city prides itself on being, and it's tourist industry is pleased to advertise the fact that it is, the best, most bright place in Brazil for the yuletide season. A huge Christmas tree used to reside in an open space near our house. It was taken down a few months ago. According to the neighbours - who know everything there is to know about everything - Rio de Janeiro recently erected a larger Christmas tree. And so, Natal not wanting to be outdone, pulled its own tree down (again, not a real tree) and stuck it over the other side of town. In it's place, the gargantuan monstrosity we see today. The thing really is huge. I have some video and pictures I'll try and post on here at some point. Last night, after the big party and official switch on, our bedroom, several streets away, was filled with the glow of flickering neon lighting. Natal won't be needing a lighthouse anymore.

Natal's golden gate bridge. Natal's townsfolk have been buoyed by several things in recent weeks. The promotion of ABC football team to the Brasilian Serie B, the new Christmas tree and also the completion of a huge suspension bridge over the bay. It is an awesome sight. I've driven over it, Theo walked over it. According to the newspaper, a drunk has already met a tragic end by falling off it. It is an impressive sight, although some Natalenses are disgruntled by all these expensive gimmicks - the tree, the bridge. It's an example of populist politics - keep the people entertained and happy and they won't notice the real problems of society. South American governments do not have the monopoly on this though - millenium dome and London eye, anyone?

First Certificate in English. The most popular English test for non-native speakers in the world is the Cambridge FCE. Today, I had to be invigilator for the students sitting this exam who I had lovingly nurtured toward this goal. It's not an easy test. You need to be close to fluent and have Advanced proficiency to do well. Put it this way, Nelson will be going to university by the time I can do in Portuguese what they do in English. The test takes two days to do - and we had a small administrative glitch when a 7th Day Adventist refused to do the test on Saturday. But, this bring Brazil, a way round was found... During the invigilation to keep myself from nodding off I got stuck into a novel that Theo had left for me. The surreal tragi-comedy "Confederancy of Dunces" by JK Toole. Anyone read it?