Christmas in Coch or Buying Swimsuits and Christmas Presents at the Same Time

Here's a pic of the kiddos in front of our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. I guess some of you probably read my blog back in November when I said I cried one night over missing my Christmas tree in Virginia. Silly, I know, after all it's only a thing and not a great thing at that. I suppose that it was just because it was something that was in lots of my great memories. Anyway, the night after I cried about it, my loving hubby went out and bought me the biggest tree he could find in La Cancha. What a sweetie!!

As most of you know here in the southern hemisphere the seasons are the exact opposite of those in the States. So that means that December 21 was the first day of summer here. It's quite different to have Christmas in the summer. Strange to be buying swimming suits and Christmas presents at the same time.

Speaking of Christmas presents, my parents sent us money to buy the kids' presents so we were able to buy them bicycles. What was really cool about this is that we were able to go out on Christmas Day and ride them since it's summer. Joe even wore shorts and I got a tad sunburned.

Here's one more interesting fact about our first Christmas here. As per tradition, I had bought the girls new dresses for our Christmas Eve dinner. Well, since it is summer here all the dresses looked like Easter dresses...all springy things, sleeveless with flowers in pink, yellow and orange along with Easterish bonnets to match. I was telling my friend Glenda about them saying that it didn't quite seem like Christmas what with the weather, these dresses, and other such summery things. So one day I got a call from Glenda telling me that she had found Christmassy dresses down in the used clothing part of La Cancha complete with velveteen, tule, and all things girly. So that afternoon I made my way through the ever-growing crowd in La Cancha (another time I'll tell you about the riot down there between toy vendors) to find some 'real' Christmas dresses. I found and purchased the dresses you see in the picture above. (Thanks again, Glenda.) Here's the funny part, I paid more for the used dressed than I did for their new springy ones. In fact I probably paid more for the one from Wal-Mart than it cost when it was new. Good ole supply and demand at work. The good news is that we know have dresses for Easter. :>)

We also bought the kids 2 birds and a guinea pig which well hid out in Jake's room until Christmas. Jake thought he was living in a zoo and is glad his "roommates" have moved out and now he can get a good night's rest.

We were grateful to carry on some traditions that we could and also start some new ones. Christmas on the mission field is different from Christmas in the States, but we loved it just the same.