Feliz Navidad!

Hello Everyone, Merry Christmas! Or down here, Feliz Navidad :) This blog has been relatively quiet as of late, but I do have a few new fun Christmas pics from our celebration to share. In Venezuela, the way Christmas works is that they actually celebrate with family and friends having a large dinner at midnight on the 24th.....After dinner and drinking, they set off fireworks....LOTS of fireworks!! Fireworks were happening last night throughout the entire night with a more consistent chunk at the actual midnight hour. It was fun to watch although the appeared to be extremely close to homes and buildings which

was rather frightening. I will try and post a video of them sooner rather than later. So as to incorporate a little Venezuelan tradition and also keep our American traditions alive we had a combination celebration. Yesterday the team got together (each bringing one part of the meal) and had a American dinner of roast, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (made without mushroom soup or french friend onions..interestingly enough, it tasted almost the same! well, maybe it was wishful
thinking....). We spent some time reading the Christmas story out of Luke, and some time in prayer and adoration for our Savior. Then....we each got to open a present! I opened a gift from home (that Eben's parents were so nice to bring down from my Mom) - jeans! Perfect because I am already in desperate need of them. We hung out and actually tried to watch a couple episodes of The OC (weird I know, they were left here from last year's team....). However, there were gliches in the dvd and eventually we called it a night. Amanda and I stayed up until midnight and then watched from our window as fireworks were set off all around the apartment complex and in the surrounding areas. As per usual, they set off all the car alarms, and as per usual, it was a little scary how close to the buildings the fireworks got, but all's well that ends well I suppose. This morning, we headed over the boy's house (where the Christmas tree is) around 10, to open presents! P.S. We made a pact to all wear pajamas, so that was fun and funny. We spent most of the day just having fun chatting, lounging, eating cinnamon rolls AND pancakes, and calling our families at home. All in all, it was a very weird experience to spend Christmas away from home for the first time, I don't think I want to do it again. However, for what it was it has been good, and I'm so glad I have a group of people who truly feel like family, in the good and bad.....To everyone out there that I love and miss so much - Merry Christmas....and to all, a good night. Haha :)