Saturday, December 24th we invited a family to join to us for lunch, and we ate out Christmas Turkey. I got to cook the meal, which I loved. We have an aperitif, a gift from a friend, and ended with a traditional Honduran dessert, Rosquillas de Miel. Then we went out to deliver gift bags to six of the poorest families in our neighborhood. We received donations from three different groups and were able to make generous gift bags of food and cleaning products to give to each. It was wonderful to be able to do something special for these friends.
After Midnight Mass, we went out visiting. Here everyone is outside in the streets the night of Christmas Eve. Everyone has something new to wear and everyone if celebrating. The kids buy bags of fire crackers, which they play with. We went to the home of a friend for the Midnight festivities. At midnight the family gathered around the Cresh while one little one put Jesus in with help and others sang. Then we had a Christmas Toast with sparkling grape juice and everyone hugged and kissed each other on the cheek to wish each other a Merry Christmas. Finally, the kids were dismissed to run to the back of the house where Santa had passed leaving a gift for each child.
Two minutes before midnight our neighborhood erupted! It sounded like every child in the neighborhood ignited a fire cracker at exactly the same time, many small ones, some normal ones and some so large they sounded like bombs. The neighborhood poured into the streets with sparklers and handheld fireworks. The celebration lasted for at least 20 minutes, after which my ears were ringing. Again we went out to visit our friends in the streets … hugging and kissing the cheek of each person we met.
The night ended in the house of a family we are very close to which has three teenage daughters and a teenage son. They were just finishing their Christmas dinner and shared it with us. After catching up with them, it had only been a few hours since we last saw them; we played Jenga until after 2 am.
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