Christmas 2008

Even though this is my second Christmas in Santa Barbara it feels like my first. Last year I was in Cleveland until the 22nd of December and then returned to Santa Barbara with my parents and celebrated Christmas together, which meant that we basically just spent time together and didn’t do much community stuff. This year I have been here to see all aspects of the Christmas season. Work started to taper off around the 18th and I started to relax a little, which was wonderful. On the 19th Katie and I invited some of the women we work with over for dinner and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Their husbands/boyfriends kept calling them to see what they were doing and my counterpart Sara said it was the first time she had ever been to a party with only women.

Then I went to Copan Ruinas, a wonderful little town just a few miles from the Honduran border to visit friends for the weekend and saw the performances for their festival. They had fire throwers, jugglers, lots of people on stilts (including a precious little boy who looked about 8 years old) and drummers from Honduras performing. They also invited a theater group from Guatemala that did a performance on Mayan culture in the central park (their central park is gorgeous…unlike Santa Barbara’s).

Once I got back I started cooking and didn’t stop until Christmas. Another Peace Corps Volunteer happened to be staying in Santa Barbara for a few days to wait for her parents to get in since their original flight was canceled due to snow (snow?). It was wonderful to have her around to cook with since Katie was in Copan Ruinas with her parents. We made Rice Krispie treats for my Yo Merezco group (actually they were chocolate krispies since they don’t have Rice Krispies here). Then we experimented making yoghurt (I think it turned out all right for my first time). Then came the fudge…I was pretty nervous about this since I thought it was some big complicated process, but my mom sent me a recipe off the back of a Nestle Chocolate Chip bag and it turned out perfect and everyone was very impressed with me (including myself). The pumpkin bread was easy and this time we didn’t burn it in our little toaster oven, so that was good. Laura also helped me make a few dozen cookies for the prisoners I work with. We finished up with green bean casserole and roasted garlic (so good).

Christmas Eve I visited my counterpart Nineth and gave her some fudge and pumpkin bread.

Nineth & Allison

Then Katie and her parents and sister got back from Copan Ruinas and we went to the local sports bar for dinner and then watched Love Actually (a wonderful movie). At that point Katie and her family went to bed and I went to a Christmas Eve party. In Honduras they celebrate Christmas on December 24th, not the 25th. They actually celebrate it similar to how we celebrate the 31st. During the day they cook (and clean) and then may go to mass around 9 pm, then the parties and the eating start after that. I was invited to a friends party so I arrived at about 10:30 to a basketball court full of teenagers listening to (but not dancing to) reggaeton music. As awkward as it was I stayed there for about an hour and then went to the house of another woman I work with and she fed me tamales (made of corn mush with peas, potato and meat inside) and egg nog. She had a crèche that was about 12 by 15 feet with 3 feet tall Mary and Joseph. When I arrived there was a paper towel over the baby Jesus. They explained that it was because he hadn’t been born yet (at 12 they removed it with a broomstick). Then at midnight the fireworks reached their peak, which had been building for about a week prior.

While the rest of Santa Barbara stayed up the rest of the night eating, drinking and partying I went to bed around 1 am. Christmas day (when the rest of Honduras does nothing) I celebrated with three other Peace Corps volunteers from the area and Katie’s family.

We visited the jail around 11 am to give them cookies and then ate dinner around 5 pm (which would be Honduran time, since we planned to eat at 2 pm). For appetizers we had cheese & crackers, veggies & dip and hot mulled cider. For dinner we had mashed potatoes, chicken, stuffing, green bean casserole, rolls and roasted garlic. Then we had an intermission to let our stomach’s settle and watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation followed by apple pie, pecan pie, fudge and pumpkin bread.
At that point most of us went to bed but a few stayed up to watch A White Christmas, which I had never seen before, but loved.

Friday all the volunteers left and I finished up some work that needed to get done before leaving the country. On December 30th I will go to Nicaragua with some other Peace Corps Volunteers then on January 4th fly to Costa Rica to meet up with my parents and spend almost two weeks with them. So once I get back you can look forward to a Nicaragua and Costa Rica blog entry.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!