Christmas countdown...

So I am getting lazy on the photo thing, and Bridget took great photos of Thanksgiving week. So click the turkey for various action shots of Thanksgiving Day dinner at El Rancho (where Jeff went crazy with the camera- it looks like we were all impersonating the happy people in the Salvavida poster... which he also took a picture of...); also Thanksgiving weekend American football game (they looked so intense! Anne says it's because the sun was really bright); and Thanksgiving weekend dinner... gobble gobble!

This week was pretty crazy. There was newspaper all over my classroom, flour and water paste all over my classroom, glitter all over the teacher's lounge...one of my Grinches backed out of the role, the kids are all getting tired of school... I almost canceled the Grinch play. Oh, and we had a day off in the middle of the week to celebrate the Immaculate Conception. Nothing like going to a 2 hour Mass Wednesday morning that feels like a cross between a Spanish musical about Mary, a pep rally (Viva la Concepcion! Viva la Santa Maria! Viva Jesu Cristo!), and a children's talent show all in one (and now, Naomy would like to sing another song for you...) And the evening event involved a man running around the Central Park in a bull costume lit on fire and shooting fireworks off his back, while families stood on the streets with various altars set up for St. Mary, children dressed as saints, and ready to throw fruit and candy at the passersby who shouted out, "Viva la Concepcion de Maria!" This must be the equivalent of a Honduran Halloween. There were even a few protesting teens wearing devil ears. The weekend got better, with an odd sort of faculty Christmas celebration Friday night, a Saturday afternoon at Juticalpa's Cine-1 movie theater to see Los Guardianes de Ga'hoole en español, and Saturday night celebrating Maki's 26th birthday Honduran style, complete with Mayan temple piña colada cake and dancing in the coldest weather we've had yet! I will love being home for two weeks this Christmas, but I will miss my new family in Honduras... there will be more good nights and American classic rock songs to sing in 2011!

Since we're winding down to holiday break, and you will not be hearing from me for a while, I will also include a photo journey to school, offering candid shots from the bus of the one hour journey through Juticalpa that I take each morning, beginning at 6:00 a.m. I am sure that will be the part I miss most! (Oh, just behind the smell of burning plastic.) Also make sure you wait til the end for a special treat from Sergio and Oscar, my budding movie stars. Sergio's still working on his Godfather impression, but I'm sure by the end of the year I'll have little Honduran versions of all your favorite actors and actresses, Jeff.

Some of us have been counting down since day 60, some since day 40. I started at day 20 with a daily Advent reflection. So we've been reflecting on vacation for a while now. This week brings us into the single digits, the countdown to blast-off... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and I'll be home in Texas, where the air is clean, the streets are neat, and everyone speaks English! For those of you whom I'll see, I can't WAIT to see you! Oh, and a shout out to my former roomie, Ruth, who proved that my friends back home still care about me (thanks for the pop tarts and Mighty Leaf!)... and congratulations! She is getting married on the same day I arrive back home. So my countdown is really a double countdown.

Love and miss you all, and for those of you I won't get to see, I'd love to talk on the phone while I"m at home. Dec. 18-Jan. 2, estoy libre para relajar y celebrar con mi familia y mis amigos! Thanks so much for all your support and prayers and love, and see you SOON!