Feliz Navidad!

Here is the interior of the Catholic church in the center of Retalhuleu. It is arrayed in its Christmas splendor. The tradition in Latin America is that one attends midnight mass and then returns home for a feast of traditonal food, including the ever-tempting tamale. The festivities last all night long heralded in by a string of fireworks and firecrackers at the moment the clock strikes midnight. Since there are little ones in the family right now we didn't actually go to mass. Instead we let the kids swim at Irtra and then we went to Cynthia and Hector's house for a delicious pork and tamale dinner. Which, a note on Cynthia as chef, she is an artist in the kitchen. I've had a lot of good meals, but these meals have been prepared with instuctional RECIPES or by someone who has had years of education in the culinary arts. Cynthia, on the other hand, is a natural chef and concocts the most amazing combinations of food straight from some inner source of food knowledge that she must have been born with. Ever since I met her 10 years ago she has always been working wonders in the kitchen. I remember the first turkey she served me, the pasta with eggs in Spain and now I can't get that pork dinner, with its garlic and apples out of my head. I also think that preparing wonderful meals is how she shows love to her family. It takes a lot of energy and effort to prepare the kind of meals she makes, and I know the cooking that she did over the holidays was a way to tell her brother, my husband, that she loves him very much.

Anyway, after our meal, Beatriz and Georgia performed an impromptu concert and ballet with numerous repetitions of Cielito Lindo, Los Pollitos Dicen and Doe a Deer from the Sound of Music. At midnight I rushed the girls upstairs, where Hector was sleeping, and low and behold as the fireworks were exploding we heard the distinct voice of Santa cheer HO! HO! HO! When we went back downstairs he had left all sorts of presents. Favorites were a microphone where the singers could continue their concert and for Hectorcito his train sets.

It was an exhausting, enjoyable evening. Unfortunately my photos are blurry from that night. All I have are my vivid memories, but sometimes that is enough. In the future, as the kids get older, I hope that we can attend mass. Although I am not Catholic, I love the rituals and traditions of the Catholic church especially at Christmas time.