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When he was in school, my son and I made literally 1,000 cookies every year to share with teachers, neighbors, and friends. Every morsel of food for the week of Christmas was home made from scratch with love.
And then I decided to move to South America. No. I already lived in THE south- where we prayed for a gentle snow shower on Christmas…but not enough to stop family from visiting or getting home safe. I think that only happened twice in my 48 years there. But you know it was generally cold, usually cloudy, and possibly wet. I mean South America…below the Equator.
I sold everything I owned in 2014 including 35 Rubbermaid totes
of Christmas decorations, and I moved to Cuenca Ecuador in late September. I wasn’t really thinking too much about the holidays, other than I thought it would be a pleasant change to not have to spend weeks decorating and cooking to prepare what was beginning to feel like drive-by visits from family. What I wasn’t expecting was how different it would be, how different it would feel, how long it would take me to get used to the new normal, or how much I would come to love it.
The first year, Christmas came and I just couldn’t believe it. About
a week after I arrived (October) the stores filled with Christmas decorations. And strangeness. They had decorative cardboard boxes with the carrying handle on top. I couldn’t figure those out at all. It turns out, a family buys a box (they come in different sizes) and fills them with groceries to give as gifts for other families. If it’s a poor family, it might be filled with basic staples. If it’s a well to do family, they might fill it with chocolates and junk food. But that wasn’t the strangest part, or how it got to be Christmas day and I just wasn’t even expecting it.
And then I decided to move to South America. No. I already lived in THE south- where we prayed for a gentle snow shower on Christmas…but not enough to stop family from visiting or getting home safe. I think that only happened twice in my 48 years there. But you know it was generally cold, usually cloudy, and possibly wet. I mean South America…below the Equator.
I sold everything I owned in 2014 including 35 Rubbermaid totes
The first year, Christmas came and I just couldn’t believe it. About
December is the height of summer here in Ecuador. And while it doesn’t get hot enough to need air conditioning at 8400 ft. altitude, it doesn’t feel like Christmas. It actually took about 3 years for me start getting in the Christmas spirit as it warms up instead of cooling down.
My next shock was…the mall is open on Christmas day. Most stores here are family owned, and they aren’t open. Banks are closed. But grocery stores and the mall are open regular hours. Don’t expect to buy anything on New Year’s Day, though. You might be lucky to find a single business door open on New Year’s Day.
And then there is the Pase del Nino. The Parade of the Child. It’s
The premise of the parade is to celebrate the Child. The Child, being Jesus, of course, in this Latin, heavily Catholic country. And the best way to celebrate the Child is with indigenous costumes and dancing.
And everything child and baby. Cars and trucks are heavily
decorated as floats.
Horses carry riders adorned in regal fabrics, sequins and beads.
And absolutely anything younger than adult, is dressed and decorated in embroidered, bejeweled velvet and lace, or covered in hanging gifts for the Messiah.
If one doesn’t have a baby, child, stroller, baby pig, baby goat, baby alpaca to herd through the downtown parade, one carries a beautiful figure of the Christ child.
I’m now going through my fifth Christmas season, just below the equator, and it finally feels natural to start getting into the Christmas spirit as temperatures start warming up. I hope you enjoy my very amateur attempts at trying to capture the emotion of the season on a cell phone camera!
Merry Christmas y’all from two degrees south of zero latitude.
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| Scarlet Braden |
I’m Scarlett Braden, Author and you can find me at the links below.
Scarler it sounds like a beautiful celebration. Thank you for sharing with us. So glad to have you as ourguest.
ReplyDeleteI too live where the temperatures are warm at Christmas time (and year round). It took some getting used to, but we've grown accustomed to eating Christmas dinner on the lanai.
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