Christmas in Uruguay isn't your typical white holiday season. On the contrary, Christmas here is in the middle of summer!

Instead of spending Christmas break skiing and drinking hot chocolate, we spend it at the beach drinking piña coladas! Instead of spending the 24th snuggling up and drinking egg nog, we spend the night away outside watching the fireworks with friends and family! The typical Christmas food here consists of asado (delicious barbeque Uruguayan style!), potato salad, lots of chicken, big green salads, and for dessert we eat tons of ice cream with a fresh fruit salad! We're also known for an alcoholic beverage called Fernet, which is a herbal black licorice tasting alcoholic drink that Argentines and Uruguayans are very well known for.A typical 24th of December consists of spending the whole day with your family, at the beach, or at your house barbequing away all day and night and eating, eating, eating!

As night rolls around, the party begins. Friends start coming over, and at midnight the fireworks begin! The young people go out dancing and are back by Christmas morning to start opening up gifts!