I Want to Remember This Christmas, Part One

Friday, December 20, 2024

We carried out our family Christmas tradition of exchanging names and finding a $5 mil gift at the feria navideña on the corner of Heroes de la Concepcion and Tadeo Haenke streets. We headed down there around 8:30 PM with our friend Ibodne. Earlier that day, she had given us all her special gift of Christmas sweaters from the fardo she purchased for resale this season. Notwithstanding the heat, Silas was delightfully determined to wear his green "Oh, Snap!" gingerbread sweater out shopping! As usual, parking for blocks nearby was nearly impossible to find so Pedro dropped us off and we joined the throngs of people on foot. It was crazy and chaotic just as it always is - enjoyed by some and dreaded by others - but we divided into groups of twos so that each pair had cell phone communication. My buddy was Silas who had just one thing on his mind for both himself and the name he'd chosen: Capybaras! Needless to say, it was a bit exhausting trying to get him to focus on his task and purpose but we finally achieved his purchase and picked up a new pet bed for Whittaker while we were at it. After delivering Ibodne to FLORECE, at 10:30 PM we ordered a pichanga diente de dragon with mayo ajo for pick up from Lomitos Porky's and in true iquiqueño fashion had a late-night family feast at home.

Sunday, December 22, 2024

At the Iglesia Bautista de Fe, we invited those who wished to share a verse, song, poem, or other "Regalo para Jesús" as our Christmas program this year. It was a truly special time to see and hear expressions of love to our Savior. Ian graciously agreed to play the role of Joseph for the children's special number, and Alec to play guitar/sing with Ibodne. The night before, I sprung on our visiting children Owen and Isabel a request to join their parents in a reader's theater. After some consideration, both agreed and the next day Isabel referred to the experience as a humorous "You know you're a pastor's kid when you're handed a script the night before and asked to read this!"

Monday, December 23, 2024

Pedro and I began the day with an early grocery store run to avoid the Christmas crowd, followed by a court hearing downtown joined by Isabel as we all provided public support to a victimized friend. We then proceeded to park in the packed underground lot of Jumbo to cross the road to the feria navideña for the gift I ran out of time to purchase on Friday. It was suffocatingly hot at midday but with his usual good humor Pedro quickly picked out his own eccentric gift to simplify things and lend me a hand! Next the three of us enjoyed refreshing fruit juices at La Ecuatoriana. Cucumber/celery/pineapple/lemon for the parents and strawberry/banana/milk for the girl!

That evening, we did our family gift exchange reveal. Starting with the oldest giver to the youngest, Pedro presented (me) with a lovely laser-cut Bible verse in the shape of a tree. Then I offered (Pedro) his self-selected gift which was an Asian-influenced triangular straw hat that he said he'd wear at the grill! Isabel gave (Ian) two small colognes and a necklace with the letter "E" for Emma. With a somewhat sheepish grin he announced, "Not gonna lie, I like it!" Next Owen produced his gift for (Alec) which was a really cool Lego-sized (though not branded) silver Darth Vader with accessories. Ian followed by admitting he'd asked (Owen) to choose his own gift, which was a quite unexpected pink baseball hat with a sunflower! Then Alec delighted (Silas) with a stuffed capybara in a green sweatshirt on a keychain. And finally, Silas gifted (Isabel) a large comfy pillow featuring a capybara eating a cookie which will surely remind her of her little brother in the future. The hugs and smiles are always the best part of this simple family tradition, but the icing on top this year was adding what we loved about the person whose name we chose.