So you, Dear Reader, are not overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information which I will be reporting to you concerning my activities in the month of December, I will be updating with a shorter post once a week for the next three weeks. Stay tuned!
Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8)
What better way to celebrate the Immaculate Conception of Mary than to run across the Finca cheering and singing? Here at the Finca we have several Nicaraguan missionaries and a Nicaraguan religious sister. For Nicas IC is one of the biggest feasts of the year, so it was pretty grand for us this year too. We began with a novena (nine days of prayer), but in true Finca fashion this novena began a little too early to actually end on December 8th for mysterious reasons.
Anyway, on the last day of the novena, we split up into groups and went stampeding from house to house on the Finca. Each house had a small altar on the porch with pictures of the Virgin Mary. Upon our arrival we sang a Marian hymn, did a little cheer (“? Quien causa tanta alegría? ...! La Concepción de María!”). At each house we received a Little treat, so all in all it was kind of like Marian trick-or-treating.
Advent
December also meant a time for preparing ourselves for the birth of Christ at Christmas. In the missionary house we decorated in the traditional, North American way, but we also had a Jesse Tree. We decorated our Jesse Tree with symbols from the story of Salvation History as recounted by the Hebrew Scriptures as well as a personal ornament from each missionary that symbolized a family Christmas tradition. My symbol was the train—for the train that we always have around our tree at home, running our Lionel toy trains at the Germantown Train Station, and receiving them as gifts each year.
Our house was lacking in one decoration which in my mind is essential to Advent: the Nativity scene. My mom collects Nativity scenes, so when we decorate almost every surface of our house has one. Because we did not have one in the missionary house, I made this one:
Our chapel was not without a Nativity scene though; in fact, it had a quite inclusive one complete with an elephant, a penguin, and Little Red Riding Hood. Who knew they were there? I trust our Franciscan sisters on this matter whose founder, St. Francis, developed the Nativity scene tradition.
I was also lucky enough during December to go into Trujillo with a few of our little girls to grab some ice cream and see the Christmas decorations around town:
*Note: Grandma and Grandpa Kuehl have this same plastic light-up Nativity scene in their window every year.
In Brief:
I saw huge Double Rainbow!
I’m officially a resident of Honduras (special thanks to professional bureaucrats in the Honduran migration office for making the process as sufficiently painful and slow as possible).
House 3 (little boys) spent a week trying to capture and domesticate a baby squirrel.
Winter School ended January 13!
Real school begins February 1!
In December I read The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis (again), some of David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day, book 1 of The Hunger Games, and I just finished The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien.
Thank you to everyone who sent Christmas cards and packages! It really means a lot more to me than you can know!
To be Continued…
