Christmas Eve 2019

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2019 were summer days, warm in both temperature and holiday spirit. Our celebrations were relatively small and simple but thoughtful and memorable in their own way. Pedro gave of his time on the morning of the 24th to accompany Richard, a Bolivian friend, to the Zofri in pursuit of needed car documents. He then returned home to roll up his sleeves and make turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, veggies and gravy for our Christmas Eve meal. Meanwhile Silas went to pre-school until noon and at pick up time, we delivered presents and a card he had personally colored to all the teachers at his jardin. From there we drove to Aunt Pam and Uncle Jon's house for a gift exchange and to wish Aunt Pam a Happy Birthday!

No sooner had we returned home than our friends Pedro, Isabel and Luisa were at our door delivering a surprise to us! A huge mango milhojas cake called "Torta Amor" was their demonstration of love to our family this Christmas season. Not only this, but two days prior Luisa had orquestrated the appearance of one of Iquique's favorite traditions to our doorstep when a "Pascuero" truck delivered candy and a personal gift from "Santa" to Silas.

The clock was ticking towards the time our invited guests were to arrive for dinner at 7 p.m. when I left home to finalize a few last gifts. One of my stops was the Christmas market, where I met Eva and Ian who walked up the hill to join me. From there I briefly paused at the house to exchange Eva for Silas, then drove downtown to pick up a previously ordered mango cake which we would now be passing on to another family since we had no need for two cakes, however delicious they might be! With cake in possesion, we proceeded to FLORECE to retrieve our friend Catalina who would be spending Christmas with us for the second year in a row. And then, we drove back across town to the home of the Spink family to deliver gifts and the cake since we knew they would be having a large group of people for Christmas lunch the next day.

Around 7:15 p.m. we returned home to find our friend Richard (from Bolivia) and Dr. Ron (from the States) already waiting for us. A retired doctor, Ron owns an apartment down the street from us and spends three months a year in Iquique to escape winter. This was his second year with us and we had already learned to expect delicious contributions to our Christmas Eve meal! His American-style potato salad, Chilean-style pebre, delicious guacamole and especially his sweet potato casserole did not disappoint. Pedro's turkey was tender and moist and we enjoyed a wonderful meal in good company, ending with a couple of Christmas word games at the table.

While our food settled, we gathered in the living room to sing three Christmas carols to guitar accompaniment provided by Owen, Ian and Alec. They learned "Noche de Paz," "Al Mundo Paz" and "Alla en el Pesebre" this year and had already played for a Christmas outreach downtown and at the new church plant, so they did a great job! Our final song was "Happy Birthday" as we lit candles on the mango milhojas cake and celebrated the birth of our Savior Jesus. The trick candles on the cake were not planned, but brought some mirth to the occasion! Afterwards we took turns sharing a reason why we love Jesus, and it was a blessing to hear from each of our family members and three special guests. (Silas' testimony was a bit theologically confused as he thanked Jesus for everything from Creation to Santa Claus, but he was definitely grateful!)

Later that evening when Richard and Ron had returned home and Pedro was just about to head to bed, another visitor arrived. I had run into Francisco at the Christmas fair and learned he had nowhere to spend Christmas Eve, so invited him to our 7 p.m. meal but somehow the time had not registered and he arrived at 11:30 instead! He and Pedro had a leisurely chat while the rest of us per annual tradition watched "The Nativity." Though no Hollywood movie is perfect, this one is rich in cultural context and humanity and always reminds us that the birth of baby Jesus was not clean or comfortable or easy, yet life changing for the entire world.

One other memorable part of Christmas Eve was having two sets of neighbors stop by with gifts for our family. This was significant because our children had very much wanted to continue our family tradition of handing out homemade sweet treats to our neighbors this year. I felt overwhelmed at the thought, and asked if each of our oldest would make the cookie he or she knew best how to do. Eva made sugar cookies, Isabel made marshmallow cheerio treats, and Owen made chocolate oatmeal no-bakes. They did such a great job, and then I organized decorative trays which we delivered with a Christmas note from our family in which we introduced each of us by name. Maybe it was stating that our children had made the cookies or explaining that we were North Americans with Iquique in our hearts or just sharing our names, but this year is seemed that our neighbors responded more and one family went as far as writing their own personal note with each of their names. As it turns out, their last name is Garcia, too! And the young adult son who made and delivered some delicious cupcakes seemed to enjoy practicing English as well.

We were far from alone in staying up so late since Chilean tradition is to open gifts at midnight. Ours is still to do so on Christmas morning but when the movie had ended and Francisco had gone, we did open one each from our family name exchange. Last year we exchanged names and one night all together went to the Christmas fair with a designated amount to be spent by each person. It turned out so well that everyone wanted to do it again, and I absolutely loved observing my kids thoughtfully choosing for one another and then delighting in what their siblings found. We ended the night on a joyful note and headed to bed well in the wee hours (2 a.m. for me!) with happy hearts for Christmas morning!

For posterity's sake, here are the gifts chosen by family members for one another:

Pedro had my name and bought me a pretty pink and cream straw hat for all the times he has to remind me to stay out of the strong Iquique sun. I had Eva's name and gifted her a beautiful shawl with llamas and other Northern Chile designs to keep her warm with memories of home when she goes stateside to study next year. Eva had Daddy's name and gave him a new big "La U" coffee mug and matching keychain, since his previous big mug broke and this is his favorite Chilean soccer team. Isabel had Ian's name and bought him a pair of sunglasses and a big tub of glittery slime because she knows her tactile brother well, and he loved it. Owen had Silas' name and with a little help from Mom bought Silas a stuffed "Forky" (from Toy Story) and an electronic Minions toy that scoots around the floor while playing a repetitive tune and shining colored lights everywhere like a disco ball - a huge hit with his hyper little brother! Ian had Owen's name and purchased a requested gold chain and a little Fortnite pillow for his brother's "comfort" while gaming. Alec had Isabel's name and gave her a pretty purple watch and $2 mil with a note inviting her to purchase matching earrings. And finally, Silas had Alec's name and added a bracelet to his collection and bought him a big black and orange digital watch.