We hope that all of our friends and family around the world had a very Merry Christmas! We began celebrating on the evening of the 24th, as is the tradition in El Salvador. We started out by going to a party in our neighborhood, then on to another friends’ home for dinner around 10:00, and then visited more friends close to midnight. We arrived home in time to watch fireworks all over the city from our terrace, and then we slept for a few hours before waking up early to celebrate “American” Christmas by opening presents, swimming with friends, and eating Christmas dinner. We were also blessed to have our friend Roberto celebrating with us on the 24th and 25th. By around 8pm on Christmas we were wiped out!
Here are some pictures from our Christmas this year:
Taking part in the traditional Posada where children carry Mary and Joseph around looking for a place to stay, eventually ending up at the gate of the final home where those inside and outside sing a special song back and forth, prayers are prayed, and Mary and Joseph enter in.
Picture on the volcano, and then time to wait for Santa!
Attempts were made to have each family light a paper lantern, but after some near misses with fire and palm trees, only one finally made it out over the city.
San Salvador on Christmas Eve (before the fireworks)
Christmas Eve silliness!
Singing Happy Birthday to Jesus after dinner!
Stopping by our friend Patty’s house to visit her and her family!
Excited kids on Christmas morning
We weren’t the only ones awake…the toucans were up too!
Opening gifts with Roberto…his first experience ever receiving Christmas gifts chose especially for him! We were so glad to share Christmas with him!
oh the joy!
Christmas Brunch! Tori was such a great helper for me this year getting the cinnamon rolls and egg sandwhiches on the table! Later on Christmas night she designed and specially set each place setting!
We miss our family and friends every year, but we are so blessed with many open doors and rich friendships in El Salvador!
Thank you for sharing the pictures from Christmas! So neat to see all of the traditional ways of celebrating. Neat to hear about and see the rich friendships you have developed over the last few years. What a blessing!