Christmas has arrived as evidenced by the beautiful poinsettia outside the boy's bedroom window! And, if I were sending out a Christmas card this year - I must say the one of the boys with their mugs peeking through the Children's Eternal Rainforest Sign across from our pasture would be IT! They ran ahead while Mike and I were balancing a meal, jackets and other 'standard stuff' that we bring to pot-lucks and gave us a great chance to pull out the camera! Thanks Kids!
Here I sit in yet another doctor’s office awaiting my fourth appointment today; clearly the boys are having more fun exploring the Parque Diversions (amusement park) here in San Jose as I bounce from Clinica Americana to Clinica Catolica, Clinica Biblica and Hospital San Francisco. I even managed to squeeze in an hour of Christmas shopping at the mall in San Pedro between appointments. What productivity as I peer into my shopping bags (two pair of new shoes for the boys, several Spiderman action figures and a Lego set for Loandry). Did I mention you can’t get the Lego brand here on the mountain, so I gladly paid the price for quality building materials! Our boys will be inheriting a ton of Lego’s from an older MFS student who no longer plays with them. Mike and I will clean them up and they’ll be good as new!
We had an uneventful trip from Santa Elena to San Jose on the bus yesterday (Sunday) afternoon – kids were great and we all managed to eek out a little shut-eye on the bus. We had a comfortable nights stay at Hotel Aranjuez (a nice hotel made up of several adjacent homes with beautiful courtyards, wood floors which leads one down narrow halls and little niches for relaxation in the open breeze). The boys enjoyed the SKY T.V. and being treated to some time with Dora this morning.
We’ll leave tomorrow on the 6:30 a.m. bus, getting back to Monteverde just prior to noon. We have a busy few days before Christmas, baking cookies, making Christmas decorations for our secret Santas and picking out a sufficiently large carrot for Santa’s reindeer. We have procrastinated with making our gifts for the two community members whose names we picked during November’s potluck at the school. We better get crackin’ and get the creative juices flowing. At least the boys have written their notes to Santa and took them out in the pasture one night last week and let them go among the wind as the breeze will surely carrying their wish list to the north pole. (I don’t dare tell Michael that I saw his bedraggled note wet with rain the other morning dangling from a branch of one of the Gauva trees!) The Christmas tree is compliments of Gaudy and the boys. They gathered many branches from the pasture and made all the decorations while I was sleeping off an IV drip of antihistamine to combat an allergic reaction I had two weeks ago from an antibiotic - Gaudy is such a blessing! The kids had fun and the tree has really taken shape since this pic!
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without tie-dying shirts - The boys are ole' pros and this years designs are the best yet!
Much to my disappointment, we missed the Christmas Program at the school yesterday as we were traveling to San Jose. The Program is a great event which included an hour plus of carol singing, the children’s play and various other performances. I am sure the Children’s Christmas Story play went off without a hitch and the kids enjoyed it. It was actually taking shape during our final practice this past Saturday. I so enjoyed organizing it this year and already have some new ideas for next year. Thanks to Rowan, Tera, Edda and Meg for assisting. We also missed the Wassail that followed which means we lost out on gorging ourselves with homemade Christmas cookies and Wassail drink. I have fond memories of participating last year and doubt there was even a crumb of a cookie left for any mouse or stray cat to nibble on.
Christmas is certainly a busy time on the green mountain, parties, parties and more parties. Either I am getting old or Monteverdians really know how to ‘throw down’. We’ve been blessed to spend many nights with friends (campfire at Veronicas to bid goodbye to a MFS teacher, dinner party at Thalia and Drew’s, pot-luck at La Colina Lodge to say farewell to Cindye and Hunter (mom and MFS student) who are heading back to the States and a 60th birthday/Christmas Party at Moira and Ward’s house. Mike ran into an old friend at Moira's - what a blast from the past as Nalini peered across the room with the most inquisitive look on her face "I know that guy from somewhere?...Mike, is that you from the Canopy Project?", I guess you can guess what happened next, hugs and laughter and lots of reminiscing. Nalini is a biologist who has a house down here and has done many studies on epiphytes (one of Mike's favorite topics). Mike had a chance to join her on a Canopy project out in the western United States about 10 years ago and here they are...together again, indeed a small world. So much to be thankful for, wonderful friends and opportunities to share good conversation and food!
Today, I walked into Santa Elena for some last minute shopping and enjoyed the wind in my hair and the sun in my face. I met Benito Guindon outside the bank and we exchanged niceties as I asked him for another delivery of milk straight from the farm (this time cow instead of goat) and inquired as to how his dad (the legendary Wilford Guindon) is doing, as he is very frail and recovering from many infections. I was pleased to hear that he was strong enough to take in Sunday’s Christmas program and that he is home on his farm surrounded by friends and family.
Speaking of friends and family, finally news of John and Adrienne’s new arrival (although a week late), little miss Eliza is indeed an early Christmas present. We have missed them as they’ve been in San Jose waiting for the birth and look for them to be back in the community soon. There is no greater blessing than a child.
We will plan to make ornaments with the boys tomorrow out of salt and flour and gingerbread man cookies (although a bottle of molasses is no where to be found), so we’ll see how the bag of Tapa Dulce works as a substitute. Tomorrow night we’ll head to the school for the BBQ, a chance to put a dog on a stick and drink some hot cocoa.
Christmas Eve morning will find us decorating the Meeting House (as we are on the decorating committee) in preparation for the Christmas Day gift exchange and community dinner and then heading to Marie-Cecil’s house for a Christmas Eve Pot Luck.
Mike is active in the garden and really enjoying this beautiful weather. The kids are busy helping Dad care for the seedlings of squash, watermelon, etc. that they started a week or so ago – we have Sprouts!
Mike downloaded several Christmas movies that are bringing back so many memories for us both. We huddled with the boys last night to watch “Charlie Brown’s Christmas” and “The Little Drummer Boy”. I felt like I was 8 again, sitting in my family room in my house outside of Toronto in front of a blazing fire with all eyes glued to the tele. So many questions from the boys about the little drummer boy, they loved the story and prompted me to retell the story several times just today. Tonight we watched “Frosty the Snowman” and perhaps tomorrow night, we’ll cap it off with the “Grinch”! Classics for sure. There are lots of questions now about Santa and God and how they relate to each other, “Does God watch Santa too”? “Is God bigger than Santa”? I chuckle as I can see the wheels turning in John’s brain – he wants to know all and won’t give up until Mom delivers a satisfying answer.
Christmas time on the mountain – simple, pure and best of all, warm!
Peace
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