This Christmas was my first time away from family. I decided that I was not going to be sad about it. Instead, I made plans with my new family and friends here.

On the 23rd, I went to my friend Laurie's aldea for Christmas party. It was awesome! We cooked this tomato-based sauce with beef, and made rice with carrots and peppers. Laurie made several banana and spice cakes. Of course, I had the spice cake! There were so many people from her group there. I'm quite sure they had never seen a black person up close and pesonal before. They had so many questions about my hair. They wanted to know if I was born this way. Could I brush my hair? What do I put in my hair? Eventually, I let them take turns feeling it. They were very surprised at the softness of my hair. Later on after dinner, we put up a piñata to let the kids break it. But...instead of the kids going first, I had to go first. Of course, I played it off and pretended to be aiming for the prize, but I didn't want to spoil it for the kids. They made Laurie go next. She did the same, and then we both geared up with our cameras to take videos and pictures of the little ones. It was a mad dash to the candy when it finally broke. Too funny!

On Christmas Eve, I did a few last-minute shopping errands......aka bought my tv! The best moment of Christmas time! It's 21 inches! Which is good for the money I had! Thanks Tasha and Eric! I got the guys to load my tv on top of the bus. Needess to say, I was totally freaked. I stood outside and watched them tie my tv down. Then, I rode the bus to my town praying it would get there safe. It did! I set up my tv, and watched telenovelas for a few hours. I was so over joyed! Later that night, I hung out in the streets with my family. At midnight, all the fireworks and bombs went off. They were extremely loud! It went on for hours. I finally went to bed around 3am.
Christmas morning, I slept in. I needed to rest after all of that excitement earlier that morning. Eventually I got up, and called my family in the States. It was really good to hear all of their voices. I even talked to some of my church family. I'm glad I bought a lot of minutes! Even though I wasn't home with them, I still felt like I was there with hem. We even video chatted. Thanks Yahoo!
The day after Christmas, my town was crazy busy! We were celebrating 13 years of peace. We had a great ceremony! Our town is very proud of this accomplishment. To keep the festivities going, I had a mini-partyat my house with my friends. We had an SMJ-PC party. It was great! I cooked steak with onions & peppers, mashed potatoes, homemade mac & cheese, 2 cakes, and Candy made a cheese ball. It was perfect!
I must say, this holiday was better than I expected it to be. For my first Christmas outide of the U.S., I had a blast! Thanks to all my friends, family, and new family in Guate! I hope you had a good holiday as well.