December. Vacation. Another year the Aguiar family would spend Christmas at grandma Sônia's house, with all the aunts and uncles, cousins and some relatives such as the daughters' and cousins' boyfriends. But this year, something different was about to happen. Antonio would be present. He hadn't visited his family for many years, since he separated from Cleide and went to live in Belgium.
Expectations were the best possible. Grandma Sônia already had her shopping list ready two weeks in advance, planning what she would make for dessert to please Antonio, a sweets fanatic. His preference was passion fruit mouse and chocolate pavé and Grandma Sônia knew how to prepare them like no one else.
On Christmas Eve, Antonio called to say that he would arrive around three in the afternoon and would be accompanied by Júlio. Nobody knew who Júlio was, but, like a good hostess, Grandma Sônia took care to prepare a room for the boy and make sure he liked the menu that would be prepared.
When Antonio arrived it was just a joy. As he hadn't been to Brazil for many years, everyone missed him and was dying to know all the news about his time abroad. Along with him, his friend Júlio. A man about the same age as her and with a constant smile on his face, but it was no more expressive than his discomfort.
Julio also justified himself by saying that he needed a few hours to adapt, fit in and become more familiar with the environment. Antonio made a point of introducing his entire family to that man who no one knew for sure, he even introduced his two teenage children, Jônatas, aged 16, and Sabrina, aged 18.
Antonio's children visited him at least twice a year, but they also didn't know that man who had a very intriguing look, he seemed to want to find out about everyone in that house - he really did, he was willing to get to know the particularities of those people that he even So I only knew it through the reports and photos that Antonio showed.
The house started to get full and Grandma Sônia couldn't hide her happiness at receiving all those people. Shortly after ten o'clock at night, everything was ready for Christmas dinner. The presents were all piled up around the tree, so the children couldn't leave their side, waiting for the moment to open all those presents and have a party.
Then, the most anticipated moment of the night arrives. Time to supper, make speeches and distribute gifts. Grandma Sonia was the first, as always, to speak. She didn't spare her son with adjectives to show how happy he was about that night, when he brought together all his children and grandchildren.
Antonio's other brothers and nephews spoke, he was last. However, he asked them to distribute the gifts first, as he wanted everyone's attention when it was time to give the speech and tell more about his definitive return to Brazil. Sônia, his mother, had realized that something serious was coming. Antonio was always very playful and loved being one of the first with his good-natured antics.
Grandma Sônia – as she was affectionately called by everyone, even her children – made no point of hiding her concern about what Antonio had to say. She made sure that the gifts were distributed as quickly as possible and then summoned her eldest son to the head of the table, where he was to give his best wishes to everyone, as was the rite in that house.
Antonio began by declaring his love for his children and his mother, but he didn't spend much time on tearing up the silk and was soon saying that he needed to share this new moment in his life with everyone. He began by saying that he was very happy and in love again, that he had learned that life was too short to worry about social impositions and was there to introduce his new love.
Everyone looked at each other, pretending they didn't understand what he was saying, but at that moment it became very clear to the family that their love was Júlio. Grandma Sônia looked like she really didn't understand what he was saying, but when Antonio called the boy, the over seventy-year-old lady understood and saw a little film playing in her head, a kind of deja vú, from when Antonio was about 14 years old and was seen kissing a neighbor his age.
At that moment, silence fell in Dona Sônia's house, tears flowed from her eyes and Antonio's children simply hugged each other and cried together. The Christmas that seemed so happy had fallen apart for some, while for others nothing had changed. His younger brother, Celso, drew everyone's attention to say that he was very proud of his brother, courageous as always, he assumed his true life and had left behind the farce of marriage, to which many resorted and remained until they died.
Jonatas, Antonio's youngest son, decided to go ahead and said loudly that he loved his father, even though he was homosexual and that his only sadness was not living with his father - but that the news that his father would return Living in Brazil left that sadness in the past, that he would like to be closer and that, if he loved another man, that wouldn't change anything at all. Sabrina, on the other hand, did not have the same reaction as her brother, and locked herself in the room.
Dona Sônia disappeared for a few moments, people were talking in low voices and little by little they recovered from the shock, but there were some who preferred to leave, justifying that they needed to wake up early the next day for Christmas lunch. When some had already gone, Grandma Sônia came back and called her son for a chat, just the two of them.
In this conversation, she recalled Antonio's childhood, when he had been caught with his neighbor, but made a point of saying that she believed that that scene from the past had just been a childhood moment, that she did not expect it to persist. But, since it was reality, she would not interfere in her son's life. She called Júlio into the conversation and said that she was there to protect and defend them, but that she preferred not to see any display of affection between the two.
After that moment of tension, it was time for dessert. Grandma Sônia made a point of serving Júlio, in a symbolic public demonstration that she would not recriminate her son just for wanting to live his life differently from others, but as fully as anyone else. When the attention was focused on her, she crowned the night by saying that "she was happier knowing that her son was dating another man than if he was leading a double life, like some people we know who they are."
