so christmas is fast approaching, yet i'm still having trouble remembering it's december. i'm too accustomed to the in-your-face commercialization of the holidays we have come to expect in the states. in the absence of all the garish advertising and extravagant decorations, christmas is the last thing to cross my mind. of course, it doesn't help that temperatures here are in the eighties, something which prompted me to take my first trip to the beach last weekend. i spent most of the time marveling at the rocky pacific coast and getting sunburned. being a chicago girl, these are hardly activities i associate with the holiday season.

the weather does make some imported christmas customs all the more funny and out-of-place, however. despite the fact that it is high summer here, some people decorate their windows with fake snow and icicles, while sweat-drenched santas in thick beards and coats greet customers in the malls. the coca-cola version of christmas has taken over, and the chileans know it. even though they completely recognize the incongruity of it all, they're still pretty much resigned to it. as if it were inevitable, and resistance completely useless. in the same way, everyone grumbles about how halloween makes absolutely no sense, particularly in chile, where there's no precedent whatsoever...yet they go out and buy costumes for their kids and candy for trick-or-treaters nonetheless. ahhh the power of commerce.