How We're Spending our Holidays

Christmas Eve is called La Noche Buena here, and everyone stays up to usher in Christmas, much like we do for New Years. WE started our evening with a traditional Christmas meal (haha) of burgers and homemade fries on the front porch.

About 10 PM, we ventured nextdoor to the children's home, where they were enjoying some loud music and dancing, hanging out in the front yard. We went inside around 11 PM to take pictures around their tree and enjoy the evening feast.

This meal was rice salad (rice, mayo, small chopped veggies), chipa guazu (corn bread, sort of), sopa (also sort of like corn bread), mandioca (like a potato, kind of), potato salad, and pig. The boys were proud that they'd helped the house-dad handle the pig part.

We then all went back outside for more dancing and sitting around, until the countdown to Christmas. At midnight we heard fireworks from all directions and there was much hugging and jumping and shouting!

This morning, we awoke to this lovely little tree. Cute, huh?, in a Charlie Brown sort of way! We opened our presents and had a nutritious pop-tart breakfast (THANKS, NANA!) Pop-tarts are impossible to find here, and the package my mom sent arrived a couple of days ago, just in time for a Christmas breakfast! Ken got a much needed pair of shades, Camille and Caroline got a DVD and nail polish, and I received some beautiful drawings from the girls. Now we're off to share the soccer ball we bought as a gift for all the kids next door, then spend some time with a few other Americans in Asuncion. Hope your day is great, as well. God bless you all, Merry Christmas!

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