¡Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas everyone! I thought I´d write today since I have time and today (Christmas Eve) is really more of a celebration here in Peru than actual Christmas day. I thought I´d also take this time to talk about how x-mas is celebrated down here.

The past couple of weeks I´ve been asking people in my town how Christmas is celebrated here and more than a few people mentioned that it is a rather sad holiday. When I asked why, they said because parents don´t have enough money to buy there kids presents. For this, it´s traditional for the local government and/or other organizations to hold chocolatadas and give out toys to children. A chocolatada is a giving of hot chocolate and paneton - a sweet bread with dried fruit (kind of like fruit cake, but actually very different...and it actually tastes good!). I went to a chocolatada last week held by the Red Cross and it occured to me "these could very well be the only gifts that some of these kids receive - new ones at least." Afterwards, my host-mom asked me if Christmas is celebrated similarly in my country and if the government gives out gifts to kids. I immediately felt awkward and tried to come up with a polite way to tell her that for the most part, parents buy presents for their own children. I actually did tell her this, but then when on to explain that the economy is very different in the United States and often, parents have jobs where they are able to save some money to buy presents. Usually by explaining economic differences between the 2 countries is my skapegoat that most people seem to understand. Most people I´ve talked to here about difference between the US and Peru understand that the economy is very different and that because of the government and the infrastructure the US has, we have many more opportunities to get an education, find a good job, save some money, etc. But I digress...

I guess you could say that this is "sad" but people appear to be pretty happy with their paneton and the kids are excited to have a new toy. I´m looking forward to tonight. Apparently it is tradition to stay awake until the wee hours of the morning, gather with family and at midnight everyone hugs and wishes one another a Feliz Navidad. That seems pretty happy to me.

I am definitely homesick and wishing I could be home with my family and friends for Christmas Day, but at the same time I am happy to be sharing the holiday with another culture. It humbles me and reminds me to be grateful to have a family, friends and my health. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and be sure to be thankful to be sharing the time together. Oh and eat lots of cookies and other sweets for me!