Kenzo and I have both posted about our Christmas traditions (his & mine) – traditions that we love and that we certainly missed this year – living in Peru. BUT – we also loved being able to experience the traditions of our family here as well as of the entire city.
Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) is a much bigger deal than actual Christmas Day. The main celebration starts in the evening with family gathered together. We decided to play a game and dance a little as we awaited the countdown to midnight. When it hit 12 o’clock, everyone hugged one another – and then looked out the window as fireworks went off throughout our entire neighborhood. When it happened, I had this rush of emotion and thought how cool it was that they welcomed the birth of Christ in such a joyous way. After shooting off our own fireworks (out of the window) – we toasted with champagne. Richardo, the dad of the family we live with, toasted saying something to the effect that we’ve been like falling stars that have brought a lot of joy to their family. I got teary eyed, touched by emotion in the moment – which the kids of course noticed and came up to me saying “pobrecita” (poor thing) and giving me hugs. Haha – it was cute. After the toast, we exchanged gifts. This part of the night was very touching to me because Kenzo and I had gotten rather simple gifts for the family – but they were extremely appreciative. We did not realize that they really do not have a tradition of exchanging gifts. After opening a gift each from us (simple gifts – the kids each got a water bottle filled with candy and a Christmas movie, dad a sweater, mom a fashion watch and some Dove chocolate) – we gave them a family gift – a digital camera. And mom and dad were both speechless. At the end of the gift exchange, the kids each thanked us and Dharet, the oldest, told us “we’ve never had a Christmas like this” (meaning with a gift each). It was precious.
After gifts, around 12:30 am, it was time to eat the turkey! (The turkey that we had gone and picked out alive the Tuesday before (more to come on this adventure on www.peru-zo.com in the next few days). We ate to our stomachs’ delight – stuffed ricotto (spicy peppers), turkey, potatoes, and wine. Around 2am, we finally headed to bed because the next morning we were to get up at 6am to go to some hot springs.
It was fabulously fun!
Here are photos from the entire Christmas Eve day – which I will try to explain.
Kenzo, Richie and I started the morning by heading to the annual Christmas Eve market in the Plaza de Armas!
We then headed home for lunch and after lunch, headed up to “the campo” with the family. We visited the Templo de la Luna (Temple of the Moon).
When we got back from our trip to the Temple of the Moon, we had Dafne and Richie take some photos of us with the cute Nacimiento (Nativity Scene) that Dafne made us – which we adorned with bulls that we’ve accumulated while here (a sign of good luck).
That evening, Kenzo and I attended the Christmas Eve Catholic Mass at Hotel Monestario where Richie’s chorus was performing. On the way home, we passed back through the market, which was still going very strong.
Below, top left – is our living room. You can see our Nacimiento – which is way bigger than what most houses adorn in the states, but small in comparison to many here! Top right – our Settlers of Catan game – we’ve got some new fans of the game! Bottom left – our turkey – hot and ready to be eaten (although it would need to wait another couple of hours for midnight to arrive). Bottom right – Kenzo with Lisette, Richie and Dafne – excited about the feast that awaits us.
A little bit of Christmas Eve dancing:
Here is supposed to be our video count-down BUT our internet connection here is slow and it is taking SO long to upload to youtube. If/when I get it uploaded, I will add it here and post it on facebook. But – here is our sight out of the 3rd story window!
And after a toast, it was time for gifts:
Above: Lisette’s delight at her Dove chocolate and Kenzo breaking into the dinner and wine!
A picture right before bedtime!
There are a lot more stories and photos from things we’ve seen and experienced this Christmas season and we will be sure to be posting them to our Peru blog in the days to come.
Thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s Twelve Posts of Christmas!! Now back to typical Life Writing Photography photos!
