2009 here we come

Posted here are some pictures from the holidays...
Andrew and I spent all day Christmas Eve making cookies and listening to Christmas music and trying to get in the Christmas groove... somehow it was harder to feel like it was really Christmas this year. That evening we sang along with the church choir in the truly spectacular Christmas drama/music extravaganza - which ended with us singing "Al Mundo Paz" (joy to the world) with the nativity actors in freeze frame throughout the entire 5 minute medly. I wish I could somehow convey this climactic moment with equally expressive prose - but words are failing me and you'll all just need to use your imaginations.

Christmas Eve was passed at the home of our good friend Alejandra and her family - we ate great food and shot off a few firecrackers - my nerves were pretty frazzled by the time midnight rolled around because fireworks go off ALL DAY LONG around here. I had to put my hitting-the-floor-at-the-sound-of-gunshots instincts on hold.

We spent Christmas day and a few days afterwards with our friends Josh and Maria at the farm in El Cipres - trying not to be too sad about their upcoming departure from Honduras. After a few days of house hunting in Tegucigalpa we came back to celebrate Maria's birthday/New Year's Eve with the two of them and about a zillion neighborhood children who were all eager to partake in some promised piñata fun. A bunch of kids showed up about 3 hours early, ready to camp out in front of the house for fear of missing any action.

It was a good end to 2008. I already feel a certain heaviness about this new year in light of the recent bombings in the middle east and a general "doomy" feeling that I can't shake. I wonder what this new year will bring... it's sometimes hard to sort out all the hope, anxiety, dreams, prayers, frustrations and thanksgivings that fill my head and heart when I think of a whole new year to come. Happy new year to you all! And if anyone out there figures out the secret, let me know.