Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas!

To say the least, Christmas was very different this year for me. To start things off, I am in the opposite season than I am used to. Summer here and winter in Vermont, that just makes everything a little weird. On the afternoon of the 24th my family headed to the country house. Here, Christmas is celebrated in the night of the 24th. It was just my family, so the four of us, which is very different because I am used to being with all my aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents. So it was quite. We had a nice family dinner and then it was time to wait for Santa or here, "Viejito Pascuero". And trust me we were all waiting. Juan Pablo, my 9 year old host brother, was destined to see Santa that night. He was pacing back and forth, waiting outside and staring at the sky for hours. He did not want to leave the house when we were supposed to go over to say hello to my host Mom's parents. He wouldn't budge. It was funny for me to watch all of this. At one point he ran outside and ran back in and he thought he had heard something and was certain that Santa was here. It was very entertaining for me! We finally did get him over at the grandparents house and that was around 11:30pm, and when we came back around 12:30am, Santa had stopped by and it was time to open gifts. And that was about it. Yesterday when we got back to our house in Chillan I finally had the opportunity to see my family and wish them a Merry Christmas. Unfortunately I was quickly reminded that the connection from South America to Vermont is pretty awful and skype wasn't going to be an option. Overall it was a whole new experience, and maybe not one of my favorites, but I quickly reminded myself that I have many more holidays in the future with my family and not to worry.