Caribbean Christmas

Merry Christmas,

Isaiah 9:6,7 "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." NKJV

I'm so thankful that this Child, the Son of God was born so long ago to be my Savior, and I'm also thankful that I can joyfully celebrate the real meaning of Christmas.

Christmas officially started in November here in Puerto Rico and will continue halfway through January. I think that Puerto Rico has the longest Christmas season of any country in the world. It's a joyful time.

This month has been full of adventure. I will just mention two adventures.

The first adventure was going to visit my friend M, a fellow Bible college graduate, who teaches third grade in the Dominican Republic (Dec. 11-15). I had never been there before and enjoyed seeing the many similarities and yet differences from Puerto Rico. (For those of you who don't know, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are on neighboring islands in the Caribbean.) So many people in the DR get around either by walking, by taxi or bus, or motorcycle. I went in a taxi for the first time in my life (with M). She knows to call the people who are trustworthy. M and I spent two half days in her city. The other three days were spent with her parents who had come to the DR for vacation and rented a condo on the beach. On my last day, I went to school with M and met her students.

My second adventure took place last night (Friday, Dec. 18)! Below I've pasted a note that I wrote on Facebook, which should explain my second adventure. :-)

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I would say that my favorite time of the year in Puerto Rico is
Christmas! I love the music, the friendship, the happiness, and,
especially, the "parrandas."

For those of you who do not know what a Puerto Rican parranda is (because it can mean other things in different countries), it's a lot of fun!! It is the tradition of going from house to house all night long, singing lively Christmas songs and waking up the people who live there. Then, when they open the door, we go into the house, sing some more, enjoy each other's company and eat!! The "parranderos" (carolers, for lack of a better word) take with them lots of traditional instruments--big barrel drums, tamborines, maracas, guiros, wooden sticks and more. It makes a lot of noise--fun noise!

Ok, now to tell my story... :-) I was suspicious that they might give me a "parranda" ever since I moved into my apartment. As Christmas drew near, I decided to prepare just in case. I bought milk and chocolate powder to make hot chocolate and plastic plates to serve cookies. Then, this Wednesday I found out that the young people were going "parrandeando" this Friday, but they didn't want to give me details. I began to be more suspicious! Someone asked me if I was going with the young people and mentioned something about 8:30 at the church. I got very excited. When Friday arrived, I went to church around 8:35. When the church was still closed after I had driven circles for about 15-20 minutes, I knew that something was going on! Quickly, I went to Walgreen's because I didn't have cups to serve the hot chocolate!

Then, I went back to my house and began to organize the living room, wash the dishes and get ready to receive the "parranderos" who might be coming. Let me tell you that it was VERY difficult to fall asleep despite being a Friday after a week of traveling and work. I was very excited! Each time I heard a dog barking or a car drive by, I would jump from my bed to peek through the window. Finally, I fell asleep.

Around 1:30 in the morning, I awoke to the beating of the "tambora" (drum), the sound of the maracas, and my friends' voices! I didn't turn on the light right away. Beforehand, I had thought about leaving the light off in order to surprise them by suddenly appearing at the door, but then I thought that maybe they would become discouraged and leave if I didn't turn on the light right away, so I turned the light on. When I went outside, they sang a lot of Christmas songs. I think that one of my favorites is the one that has "le lo lai" and "Despierta ya, que la mañana ya llegò" (Wake up now for morning's come!) I started making the hot chocolate and setting out the cookies and snacks. We ate and enjoyed our time! There were about 20-25 people here from my church. They stayed for about 45 minutes and then left to go surprise someone else!

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Well, as for the rest of Christmas, I'll probably spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day between visiting my aunt's family in PR and spending time with a missionary lady to the deaf. I'm also enjoying the Wednesday night church services we're having in different families' homes during December. We always have a good time singing, making music, and hearing from God's word.