¡Feliz Navidad!
In many Latin cultures, Christmas Eve is the big celebration as opposed to Christmas Day. Here in Nicaragua that is also true.There is a midnight mass. The family gathers for a big meal, probably including stuffed chicken, rice, vegetables, and a dessert, Maria en Su Gloria (ripe plantains baked with orange juice, cinnamon sticks, sugar and rum). They open presents. Fireworks color the midnight sky. And mortars sound out at the stroke of midnight. It is a festive evening time.
The following day, Christmas, is a day mostly to recover from the festivities of the night before.
This suits us fine, because our son, with his Nicaraguan wife and daughter, go and celebrate with her family on Christmas Eve and then come to us for Christmas Day. They don’t have to choose between families. Almost every year we have lived in Nicaragua (for 25 years now), we have been fortunate to celebrate with all our children, their partners, and our grandchildren. We have a plastic tree… we are in the tropics… and stockings for the multitude. Christmas is my favorite time of the year, because of our family.
We know from experience, and are keenly aware, that Christmas can be a lonely day, a grief-stricken day, a hopeless day…
For those of you who are alone today and tomorrow, we send you our love.
For those of you who are saddened because someone you love has died and the day feels empty, we send you our sympathy.
For those of you who are hopeless, we pray that your days will lighten and you will feel the love of the Divine.
And to all, we wish for you a blessed Christmas, as we celebrate the birth of the One who taught us how to love, how to give, how to be a good person.
-Kathleen
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