Loosened words: First christmas away from home.

I think I arrived a little late to wish everyone happy holidays, but as they say: Better late than never . As you can see by the title of this post .. It is loaded with a bit of nostalgia. Christmas will always carry with it a mixture of feelings, quite contradictory in fact; they range from the joy of sharing, the excitement of gifts and even the enjoyment of a rich dinner; while for others, Christmas comes along with nostalgia, with the sadness of missing those who are not.

The meaning of Christmas is quite reinterpreted, being in the end, something very personal. The beliefs, customs and traditions of each person will always influence the perspective we give to this date. For me, Christmas always meant a great dinner accompanied by all my family and friends, but not this year. This year, Christmas came loaded with sadness for me, for the first time in my 25 years that I did not share with my family, I did not hug my mom, I did not celebrate with my dog, I did not give the gift to my sister, I played with watched the fireworks with my dad and much less kissed my little brother.

9 months ago I arrived in Argentina. For the one who did not know, I'm from Venezuela; and for those who know me a little, I remember it. 9 months ago I reinvent myself every day, I fall and get up, I disarm and I arm myself again, to spend the days without feeling sad, to arrive at the end of the day with a smile. It may sound little to have left my native country, as some have told me that "the Europeans do it all the time", but they are different conditions. The truth of all this is, that for the first time I did not have my family with me at Christmas, even so.. I had some loved ones around.

Since I arrived in Buenos Aires, I have surrounded myself with many incredible people, who little by little have become family . The majority share the same nationality as me, we are Venezuelans, the other half are Argentineans who have known how to rub shoulders with our personality and they have adopted it very well. For this Christmas, we decided to make a dinner with some typical dishes of Venezuela, to share a little and feel at home. We managed to overcome the sadness that each one carries inside, to smile and give us that hug at midnight and wish us merry Christmas .

Maybe we did not have a Christmas tree, our families with us, much less have the luck to have an incredible climate for this Christmas, but we had ourselves. Giving encouragement and building friendship, based on love as people. Something that I must emphasize is that December is the first month of summer in Argentina ... While many people enjoy Christmas with heating, we sweat a little with 30 ° c. This Christmas there was neither turkey nor cookies, because with heat nobody bakes anything, much less cute sweaters or pull overs.

Not letting the bad times and sadness overpower us, is what makes us brave. We do not measure courage or heroism by recognitions, but by those struggles that we silently have, of which we are victorious. Overcoming adversity, that's what it's about. We can not move forward if we carry a saddle full of sadness with us, such a heavy burden will not lighten our steps.

The family is not only sharing the surname or the same blood, families are formed with love. A group of friends, however different they may be, can be called family . Support, love, be accompanied .. Fundamental things. Little by little I'm getting more settled in this country than for now, it's foreign to me. With the passage of time, maybe I can feel at home. Maybe in a few years, I can go back to being with my family at Christmas, I do not know. I only know that I thank the universe for having made us coincide.