This year the Neves family has 64 people at the Christmas table, there should have been 68, but four are in Luxembourg and couldn’t come. In 2026, there will be 70, because there are two that came in their mothers’ wombs this year. The habit of bringing the family together at the festivities was launched by matriarch Florinda (now deceased), but it took root and was passed on not only to her nine children (there were 10, one has already died), but also to her daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Without losing the spirit of family celebrations, this meeting involves an almost professional organization.
Little by little they gather, the team that is on duty and wears aprons, arrived first and already has the first meal in progress: cod roasted over the coals with pieces, cabbage and crushed boiled potatoes. It’s lunch on the 24th, in preparation for the big night of Christmas. The Neves family gathers around 70 people at the table, for nine meals, during the Festive period, between Christmas and Twelfth Day: there are four meals on Christmas Eve and the 25th; another four, on December 31st and New Year’s Day; and another dinner on Three Kings Day.
You must pay a monthly fee
“To be able to set up an operation like this requires organization. We have a party committee that is elected for a period of two years. Each adult family member with a job pays a monthly fee. The committee is led by two women and we men help”, explains Jorge Neves. The Neves clan was formed by a couple – Álvaro and Florinda – who came from Fermil to Guimarães, to explore Pensão Petisqueira. She was an educational assistant, was placed in Taipas, and the family ended up settling in the village. It was there that most of the couple’s ten children were born – Duarte, Fernando, Paula, Carlos, Jorge, José, Fátima, Palmira and Renato -, with the exception of the two oldest.
“Mother always liked to bring all her children together at Christmas”, recalls Fernando. “That passed on to us”, he adds, as he looks at Dona Florinda’s great-grandchildren playing on the trampoline, before the call for roast cod.
The youngest is two years old and the oldest is 72.
After Dona Florinda’s death, the family grew, as each child had two, some three children and these children also began to have their own descendants, but the habit of getting together at Christmas remained alive. At this year’s dinner, the youngest is two years old and the oldest is 72, but there are two babies on the way, who this time were still in their mothers’ wombs. “This year, there are four who didn’t come, because they are in Luxembourg, there are only 64 of us, but next year we will be 70”, explains Fátima.
There are family delicacies handed down by the mother
From the mother of the nine brothers came the tradition of bringing the family together and some obligatory delicacies. A dish made with roasted cod, shredded and sautéed with onion and garlic, wrapped in mashed potatoes, is one of those cases. Nobody really knows what to call the dish, “Christmas potatoes”, “our potatoes”… It doesn’t matter, but it’s very good.
“We all get along very well and the secret is that my mother, who was widowed very early, didn’t leave any inheritance. So, there’s no reason to argue, like in other families”, confides Jorge Neves. Even with a good relationship, for everything to work you need family organization. There is a party committee, elected for two years. They are in charge of organizing everything. The houses of the brothers who have more space in the back host the party. During the year, all adult and working members pay a dues to raise the necessary funds. “This year we bought 50 kilos of cod, but it won’t be enough, for the Kings, we will have to buy more”, says Jorge Neves.
Divided into work teams
The adults are divided into four work groups, with one of these teams taking action at each meal. They are in charge of cooking, setting the table, serving, collecting the dishes and washing the dishes. Another team comes in at the next meal. There are nine meals in total: lunch on the 24th and Christmas Eve, the two meals on the 31st, lunch and dinner on the first day of the year and the Twelfth Day dinner.
The wine served in generous cups makes the spirits rise.
A draw is made and each person gives a single gift to another member of the family, which cannot be a spouse or child. Of course, when opening the gifts there is no shortage of Santa Claus dressed up. With wine of all qualities, but mainly green red, served in generous bowls, more suitable for eating soup, the excitement quickly increases. After lunch on the 24th, the bubbles (the sparkling wine) and the coffee had not yet been served, and they were already singing: “Yesterday she was married / Today she is divorced / Tomorrow she could be mine” – by the group Amigos de Sobreposta.
“At my parents’ house we were ten children, with two small rooms, but she [a mãe] I was very happy to have everyone at Christmas”, recalls Fernando, while the service staff washes the dishes. The aprons that mark the service team are passed on to others who will be on duty at Christmas dinner.
