So today is Christmas Eve. Traditionally a cold, maybe snowy day where we all get together and have a Dixon dinner and then listen to the kids beg my parents to open presents until they give in and we spend the night in gifts. But today I woke up to full sun and 70 degrees at 7:30 am. We will have a family dinner, but it will include roasted pork and moro (rice with beans). I'm making mashed potatoes and stuffing and apple pie because, well, I'm American and it's okay to want those things.
It's been a time of homesickness like crazy, but I guess that's to be expected. Ariel has been so good to me when it all hits and he takes me to the "big city" Santiago to see Christmas lights and go to the mall and eat Taco Bell and see New Moon. He is a good husband. So good. Yesterday we went to pick up the mail that arrives into Santiago by plane every two weeks. I truly now feel that Christmas is here!! Opening packages of wrapped presents just waiting until we can rip into them tomorrow. There isn't a tradition of gift-giving to grown-ups here, just for kids. Like I said, it's all different. Ariel and I will be having an "American" Christmas morning where we exchange presents and open all the excitement that we've received from the States. We're going to have pancakes and bacon and hash browns...now matter how weird it is to him!! And that'll be Christmas. A little, well, a lot different, but I'm happy to have stayed this year to see what it's like and mostly, to spend Christmas with Ariel. Now we just continue praying that we can be in Oregon for the next one...come on visa!!!
Happy Christmas everyone!
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