The holidays in Bolivia were as memorable as expected. Like
in most of Latin America Christmas eve is the bigger celebration. We received a
donation to make dinner for the girls on this day so sister let them choose
what they wanted. The girls wanted lasagna :). So while all the girls headed to
the church for a celebration/presentation the afternoon of ‘nochebuena’ Sister
Letty and I along with some of the girls made 3 trays of chicken and ground
meat lasagna. That night the sisters left for there own celebration and we had
the girls to ourselves. We had soup and lasagna for dinner and then danced in
the salon for hours. When the priest, Padre Pepe, came to see the girls we had
prayers to baby Jesus and his birth we toasted with soda and sparkling cider
and after the fireworks died down put the girls to bed. The next morning the
girls woke to stockings hanging all around the indoor fence filled to the brim
with candy and cookies! It took convincing but the girls would except that
Santa had made a stop at the hogar. They kept thanking us for them and we kept
telling them that it was all Santa’s doing. We had a donated breakfast and went
to mass. That afternoon we still had the girls to ourselves so we convinced
them that it was an American tradition to be pajamas all day on Christmas! They
were sooo excited and all changed and we went to decorate cookies with them. It
was a lot of fun to let them get creative with icing and sprinkles. Then we
separated the girls into groups and had a Christmas scavenger hunt. They had to
dress up, carry Mary to Belen, pin Jesus to the manger, find the turtle that
was labeled with there wise man gift to Jesus and follow the stars to the end.
They had so much fun and enjoyed it so much and my group won! Ha-ha All the
girls received a chocolate though so no hard feelings. We finished off the day
with hot chocolate, The Grinch, Miracle on 34th Street, sugar crash
and beds. We all enjoyed the day and the girls made it so worth it for us to
spend it with them.
On New Years Eve we had a dinner made by the girls and
waited for midnight playing bingo with Padre Pepe and dancing. We had a toast
to welcome in the New Year and lit fireworks in the yard. The next day we all
went to mass and the missionaries had a lovely lunch with the sisters.
For the Epiphany nothing was planned for the girls except
mass. At mass we had a visit from the Wise Men. They came in while we all sang
welcoming them and finally completed our nativity scene with statues of
themselves. There is also a Bolivian tradition of bringing your image of baby
Jesus (or your entire nativity set) to mass, place it on the altar and let them
‘hear’ or attend mass. The church was packed and if any more babies were placed
on the altar Padre Pepe wouldn’t be able to walk. It’s a really cute tradition
and Jesus is just adorning the altar in all shapes and forms. Two families gave
of themselves on this day and the girls are so blessed to have them. In the
morning a family came with breakfast and gifts. They all got to eat a special meal
and the little ones received doll and the older ones got sets with brushes and
nail stuff. In the afternoon, another family stopped by with hot chocolate and
empanadas for everyone. It was such a treat for the girls and to see these
ordinary people take the time and funds to do this was such a demonstration of
god’s love.
I will have the memories of these days with me always.
Although it was hard to be away from EVERYONE for the holidays, the girls
didn’t have ANYONE but us to spend the time with them. That is my ultimate gift
this year along with all the blessings God has bestowed on me every moment of
the time spent here
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