Merry Christmas Friends and Family!
We're thinking of you today and sending wishes of peace and merriment.
Today is actually more like a relaxed, recovery day after "the big day" yesterday because everyone here, like my (Greg) family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve. To celebrate, the whole family (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmothers, nieces, nephews, friends) had a big party at one of the cousin's houses (gracias Carola y Jose), reminiscent of the huge Christmas dinners I (Eli) remember from my Gran's when I was little.
We started the night at 930 and ended at 4 am! Oh, the Chilean way... does not come naturally to some of us. We'll let you guess who.
Here are a few of our Christmas party highlights:
The Barman We had full bar service and family members took turns preparing drinks. Eliana's cousin Facundo proved to be an excellent bartender (THE "Barman" of the night) serving up the desired amount of ice and pop for our Pisco (Chilean national alcohol), as well as a creative combination of virgin juices and pops. He organized the bar fridge in order of what he thought would be the most popular drinks of the night and made sure everyone had a chance using the neon-flashing cup holders... he's 8.
The Food Think about the yummiest appetizers you have ever had... now multiply that by 7. Everyone was in charge of bringing specific food and it definitely helped that our family has been in the restaurant/bakery/catering business for years and that more than one cousin who is a chef. We had smoked salmon, shrimp, and bell pepper on cream cheese covered mini tostadas, sushi, and much, much more.
MATT! We are so happy that Matt (Greg's best friend) was able to come and spend Christmas with us, and is still with us for a few more weeks. He was quickly accepted by the Chileans family despite his french accent while speaking spanish.
Present Time! The kids opened presents after "Viejito Pascuero" (Translate: Old man Christmas) passed overhead at midnight... though we actually began present opening at 1130 because for Chilean kids that was starting to get late. It was so much fun to see their little faces light up and their "I love it!" dances. The adults--and sadly both Greg and I are members--did "Amigos Secretos" (Secret Friends), but the gringos messed it up by putting our names on the gifts, so we improvised and the gift giver had to describe the our Amigo Secreto. Obviously, it was a breeze for Eliana... Greg made a valiant effort (his spanish really is mucho mejor). Poor little Columba (one of the sweet little cousins, she's 3 and super cute... we bought her a My Little Pony and she loved it) was a little overwhelmed by all of the people and gifts. However, she recovered quickly once everyone was otherwise occupied and she got to explore her mountain of gifts on her own.
Wig time for los hombres That's right. The boys all tried on a women's wig and gave there best impressions. Pictures are definitely coming.
More to come, including pictures. Bye for now and lots of Christmas love,
Greg and Eli
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment