The one downside...BATS! A colony of bats living in the roof. Which made for lots of messes. Oh, and critters like these...
Luckily we had my awesome brother-in-law around to rescue us. He was also handy for other things, too. Like the day we all locked our keys in the house and were trapped between the house and the outside gate (which was of course locked)...
The highlight of December was our annual Minerva School Christmas Show. This year, my first graders performed "Run, Run, Rudolph!" So of course we had to make Rudolph shirts...
This year, the school started a new tradition...a Christmas Parade through town. Each grade carried lanterns wrapped in a different color of cellophane. The effect was breathtaking (sorry I couldn't get a great picture of this)...
The Pre-kinder kids rode on Santa's sleigh...
The costumes were so precious. I just love the little Prepa elves and Kinder drummers...
The parade concluded at the Parque Central where the kids took the stage for the big show. There was even a reinactment of the Christmas Story...
Complete with a live donkey...
And what Christmas Show would be complete without fireworks?
As a somewhat scary side-note....Some of the fireworks actually shot off into the crowd. I was able to pull a few students out of the way, but some teachers recieved minor burns. Fireworks seem to be a big part of the culture here. They do them at birthdays, weddings, sporting evens...heck even just out of boredom. There really are no regulations, so I have been on a soapbox with my students about fire safety this year. I have seen too many kids nearly blow their hands off.
Ok, back to happier times. After the Christmas Show, we had a 3 week vacation. I decided to stay in town and experience Christmas in Honduras. In Gracias, the big celebration is Noche de Paz (or Christmas Eve). We attended the service at the Baptist church and a co-worker invited us to dinner at her home afterwards. Here are Karen and Shawn celebrating Christmas...
And the McClellans...
And of course, the host, Dr. de Jesus and family. His wife, Zita (my co-worker) prepared the traditional Christmas Eve dinner in Honduras...tamales. Que rico!
At midnight, as per Honduran tradition, everyone toasted (with Welch's sparkling grape juice) and hugged. I will forever be grateful for the hospitality shown to me by so many people in my time here. It was definitely a night to remember.
The following morning I woke up and went to the Catholic church for the baptism of this little cutie...
Gabriella's mother, a co-worker of mine, invited us to dinner that evening for a small celebration. It was the perfect way to spend Christmas Day.
After a peaceful Christmas, we were ready to set off on a tri-country adventure. Stay tuned to read about our travels...
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