Christmas Means a Little Bit More

Happy 4th day of Christmas (pandemic day 286). 

Unbelievably, conversations the past few weeks have been like déjà vu, echoing many of the same sentiments that were swirling around Easter. Then, it was "Jesus still rose"; now, it's "Jesus still came," despite rampant cancellations. In the days leading up to December 25, I kept thinking of the ending of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, where, despite everything he stole from the Whos, the Grinch realizes that "Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more." We in the Church know there's no maybe or perhaps about it, and that the more is none other than the Christ Child. 

In all honestly, I had an excellent Nochebuena and Navidad. Christmas Eve morning, I FaceTimed with my family in St. Louis as they exchanged gifts. I was able to surprise them with a few of my own thanks to fellow missionary and St. Louisan Courtney...and Amazon. Then, I donned my apron to prep potluck fare for that night and dinner for the following night. A little before 4, I headed to the Kreys' for an outdoor Lessons & Carols service. 

Even a few MKs got in on some of the readings! 

The main dish for dinner was 35 lbs. of the Dominican Christmas staple lechón (suckling pig, roasted whole) courtesy of the Naumanns. After dinner, a mini-concert/talent show with a multilingual twist commenced. 

Cleanup happened in record time (I was on dish duty), after which I graciously accepted the Kreys' invitation to stick around and join their family's gift-opening ritual. Santa even came for me! How did he know I'd be there?! (And that I love chocolate?!) I FaceTimed into another St. Louis family gathering when I got home and then stayed awake to watch the beginning of my home congregation's candlelight service livestream. Key word there: beginning. It started at 12:30 pm AST!

Christmas morning started early by some standards: 8 am breakfast with these two lovelies. I brought pistachio (aka GREEN!) muffins. 

Brunch was out because church was at 10:00 - Lessons & Carols AGAIN, but bilingual, and with a slightly different selection of hymns. I forewent a lunch invitation for some quiet time at home before hosting Christmas dinner for 9!

Everything tastes better when the place settings look like this, right? Although, it's hard to improve upon the Mackenzie family Christmas Eve (OK, I'm a day late) classic: lasagna. 

I forgot to take a picture of all of us AT the table, but...

This makes me glad I raided the freebie toys from the Warrens' old house so I'd have something for kids to do at my house!

One more family FaceTime session gave me a break in the middle of cleaning up from that. Since then, it's been pretty calm and bright around Cerro Alto. Bright for obvious reasons, calm because a number of people are out of town so I'm channeling my sheltering-in-place vibes and entertaining myself at home: house sitting, watching lots of Friends (made it to the 10th and final season), and doing too many NYT crosswords (anyone know a 4-letter flower or 3-letter synonym for "raft"?). I also tackled something earlier this afternoon that will make its way to a blog post near you soon. Anytime I drift into boredom, I remind myself that rest is good. I'm heading to the beach for a few days this weekend, and with Epiphany comes a return to the crazy pace I thrive on: new missionaries, Missions Unpacked, new projects (laying out Spanish issues of Good News magazine and ESL at one of the DRLM mission congregations), and more, to be sure. 

Until next time, blessings!