It started with a Sunday evening trip to Santo Domingo to renew the kids' passports - a process that starts early Monday morning. It was interesting being in the U.S. government offices here, speaking Spanish! All was completed, with a few of the usual hitches (no, you need more photocopies of that... those pictures are too small...) by noon! By evening we were home again in Jarabacoa.
Of note... as we were walking down the hall to our hotel room, the kids became fascintated with the carpet. All the floors are tile here. Micah whispered to me, "Can I take my shoes off to feel it with my feet?" Not the average question for a 9 year old American! Several months ago, I was talking with Jonathan Coleman, our sponsorship (and a lot of other things!) guy for Kids Alive, and as we spoke about the U.S., Luke entered the room. He began to decribe this soft stuff that was on the floors of all the houses in the U.S., and you can't peel it up - it is stuck to the ground, and it is really squishy... He had no idea that stuff is called a 'carpet!' He is 7!
Tuesday was our annual Christmas dinner celebration with the ANIJA staff... it is a great time of fellowship and laughter. Vic had been director of this campus for our first four years (a job that was to last a few months upon our arrival!), and recently handed the leadership over to Sonia Moreno. So, it was fun to be there to enjoy while Sonia and Miriam (director of the school - Centro Educativa Vida) ran the show! Everyone got a gift bag with a variety of gifts... among which were sunglasses that Dr. Haag had brought down in the summer... as you can see in the photos, these became the hit of the party
Wednesday, Nana and Papa, aka Lynne and Jim Collins, arrived from Moraga, California - near San Francisco, where I grew up... A huge blessing in spite of distance - we have been able to spend Christmas together each year since our arrival in the DR. Usually we are here, but last year were in the States.
Nana and Papa came bearing gifts of great flavor from afar - Christmas cookies from Penny Nagle (YUM!) and home made caramels from Sandy Busboom! 
Luke and Papa sharing a little reading in Famous Men of Rome!
Thursday, December 21 - Winter Solctice, was Chase's 6th birthday! Time flies! 
We had a great celebration with Oliver Dougan, whose birthday is December 22, at his house. We had a fogata (bonfire!) and a typical American hot dog and chips dinner! Afterwards we feasted on cake and s'mores - thanks Peggy Roach! For most people, this was this was their first experience with s'mores! 
I hope to get up to date in the next few days... and then just share about life here... I do hope that the pictures say more than the words. I am often asked to describe a typical day... I realize no one has a typical day in December... but these are pretty typical for us in that there is lots of flow through our house, lots of interaction with lots of people and the fun of doing life in a different culture!
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