Merry Christmas to all! This year we had the opportunity to see how Christ's birth is celebrated in a foreign country.
It certainly was very different than what we are used to at home!
We usually associate Christmas with snow, cold weather, cozy times with family and friends and lots of busy-ness! This year we enjoyed a beautiful, sunny day with just our own family.
Some of the people here put up a tree and lights, but they don't exchange gifts. Mainly they celebrate the day with fireworks! At midnight on Christmas Eve, the sky was aglow with fireworks all over town. We put the kids to bed but got them up at midnight to see the display. It was really exciting-especially because Uncle Nico had his own fireworks for us to enjoy!
Christmas Eve, Wilf and I put together a schedule of events for our family for the next day. After the kids took a few small gifts out of their stockings, we had an M&M hunt, made cookies, played games and read and sang together. I think we all agreed that for this year, we really enjoyed the warm weather and the quietness of the day! We especially enjoyed being together as a family.
The church had a Christmas Eve service. After the service, we had the favorite festive food....tamales!! Wilf, Nate and Kris had already eaten quite a few tamales that week in the different villages, so they weren't especially thrilled :), but this was my first tamale since we have lived in G. Last time I wrote about tamales, several people asked what a tamale was! So I took a picture to show you.
A tamale is wrapped in banana leaves and you have to unwrap it before you eat it (sort of like a present-maybe that is why they eat it at all celebrations :)).
Inside the banana leaves is a chicken mixture wrapped in cornmeal. The ladies of the church made these tamales and I enjoyed them! Wilf said they they were some of the best that he has had here.
This coming week, we are having a New Year's Eve service. Please remember to pray for the small group here. Christmas seemed to be a discouraging time for many of them as they remembered the church being much larger in years past. We are praying that the service will bring new HOPE and VISION for the people as we begin a new year.
The church had a Christmas Eve service. After the service, we had the favorite festive food....tamales!! Wilf, Nate and Kris had already eaten quite a few tamales that week in the different villages, so they weren't especially thrilled :), but this was my first tamale since we have lived in G. Last time I wrote about tamales, several people asked what a tamale was! So I took a picture to show you.A tamale is wrapped in banana leaves and you have to unwrap it before you eat it (sort of like a present-maybe that is why they eat it at all celebrations :)).
Inside the banana leaves is a chicken mixture wrapped in cornmeal. The ladies of the church made these tamales and I enjoyed them! Wilf said they they were some of the best that he has had here.
This coming week, we are having a New Year's Eve service. Please remember to pray for the small group here. Christmas seemed to be a discouraging time for many of them as they remembered the church being much larger in years past. We are praying that the service will bring new HOPE and VISION for the people as we begin a new year.
6 comments:
Nice pictures! There is something nice about a white Christmas but I must say the 'tropical look' is looking more appealing to me right now! :) We had lots of snow but most of it melted over the weekend.
Those tamales look fabulous! A neighbour brought us some last year and we loved them - though the younger kids didn't :) Looks like a very nice Christmas - and the lack of busyness sounds rather welcoming! I love our Christmas here, but could handle if things were a little less hectic! We love you guys and we'll certainly keep your NY's service in prayer - as well as your dear family.
Those tamales looked good! (much better than ones that I've tried to make myself).
Hi Shares! I tried to call today, but it seems your internet was down again...anyways, thanks for posting pics. I love the picture of the kids, and the tamales do sound good and look good. I'm glad you had a good Christmas day together with your family...we really missed you guys here!
Happy New year, guys! So nice to see an update on the blog, and I hope to talk to you again soon!
Love, Holly
Merry Christmas and a Happy new year to you!! I love looking at your blog!! Thanks for updating us!! I can't believe you have been gone for almost half a year!! Praying for you guys!!
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