Closing in on a month

So the holidays are a great time to share stories. I am having a tough time narrowing down the ones to share. Of course I will have to include one of my grandmama, and the chocolatada, but what else.

First the one with g-ma. If I have not mentioned it ehough I will continue to say that she is very senile, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. I spent x-mas with her my dad and thier family. I should mention that I am completly comfortable with being the only english speaker, white guy, person who does not eat with thier hands, blonde, person with a degree, or the plethera of other things that make me unique here. But I was the only person (out of 19) that was less than 55 years old. I kind of felt that the family was stealing my youth, this could also be because that I had the same conversation 27 times ( I had to repeat it with about half of the crowd).

The first awkward moment came when I entered the house. Everyone was sitting in a circle, so following cultural guidlines I started my way around the circle shaking hands and kissing the fam. My grandma was about third in line and she threw a wrench in to my other wise smooth entry. I went to shake my grandma's hand a give her a kiss on the cheek and that is when things got wierd.

My grandma has a grip of a bear. Which is really suprising for a near perilized 4'2" 86 year old. I have gotten used to it. Before I go in for the greeting I get about a foot away and put my feet shoulder with apart and try to center my balance. Thier really is no way to tell which way she will jerk me so I try to prepare for the best percentage possible.

After giving her the kiss she told me to greet the other in the circle (like her touch had made me forget everything I was doing just seconds before hand). She told me, "Meet them white foriegner, meet them", and introduced the next and the next. I was quickly falling behind, but to no fault of my own. She had a death grip on my arm. To be dead honest I do not think she knew she was still holding my arm. In turn she started to get mad at me for not shaking hands with people. So I lifted my arm so that her grasping limb was dangling infront of her face. It still took a minute or so but she finally let me go.

The night only gets better from there. So at midnight exactly the family gathers around in a circle to celebrate. For the last month every house has had a nativity scence set up in thier house, but with out a baby jesus. At midnight on the 24th/25th he gets delivered to the manger, but only if the acting godparents are there. In my family's case my grandma was godmother, and I was godfather. That is right I was the godfather to jesus. In true Peruvian fasion they just expected I knew what my responsibilities were. As I stood there with baby jesus in my arms and a briliant look of dumbfoundedment on my face they decided that instructions were in order. I took the baby around the room and each person kissed him and gave a little shout out. Finally when I was done I was to put him in the manger. As I lowered him twords the nativity scene I felt the air leave the room. I had forgot to kiss the plastic doll my self. Here I was trusted with Christmas itself in my hands (literally) and I was about to blow it. Luckly I had a whif of genius, devine intervention if you will, and I pulled back. I could here the fam breathe easy as I kissed jesus and did a backwards (not intentionaly) catholic cross thing and laid jesus down. Then we sat down for dinner.

Dinner is kind of like thanksgiving dinner. It has many different plates that are only served for x-mas. Like empanadas rellenas there are empanadas filled with chicken and olives. We also had fruit cake this is like apple pie to americans. The meal was rounded out with champane, white wine, turkey, hot chocalate, and about four different types of sweet rolls. The meal started out well. I ate my food and was ready to call it good. I am not really acustomed to eating a meal that large at one in the morning, but the family had other ideas. They invented a game I like to call, how much food can we stack on the gringo's plate. The winner is no one, but they sure can stack a whole lot of food. Each time the put more my face was a little more awkward and they laughed a little bit harder. I did not end up eating any of the third, fourth or tenth serving but it was fun to watch.

So on to the pictures. I was selected to be the piaso or entertainment for my counterparts holiday party. Children do not recieve many gifts if any for christmas, but they do get to go to some chocolatadas. This is a party where they get a toy, fruit cake, and hot chocolate. There is also games and we gave away some soda. The first pic is me playing chubby bunny with the kids. For those who do not know this is where the kids put a sweet roll in thier mouth and have to say feliz navidad. If they do this sucessfuly then they get another roll and repeat. The winner is who can say it with the most in thier mouth. The second is a little one getting her soda. The third is me handing out some gifts. The fourth is some of the five hundred kids with thier hot chocolate. And the last is of my favorite kid in all of my casorios. I affectioatly call her, "Tarzan Baby."

I hope you had a merry christmas and have a happy new year