An Argentine Christmas

I can't believe Christmas has already come. This Christmas has certainly been different from any Christmas I've ever experienced before, in many ways (weather, people, gifts), but there were still some similarities (worship, decorations, big meal). Here in Argentina, Christmas dinner is on Christmas Eve (Noche Buena). For Noche Buena, I went to 6:30pm worship. It was hot and I wore a tank top, skirt and flip flops - big difference from what I'm used to. The service, aside from being in Spanish, was exactly like the Christmas Eve service I'm used to - same liturgy, same Bible readings, and it even ended with singing Silent Night (Noche de Paz). When I came out of the service, the sun had just started setting. There was a pink glow reflecting off the apartment buildings across the street and the sky was beautiful.

After worship, I went to my pastor's house and celebrated Noche Buena with his family and some other folks from the congregation. There were about 13 people there and I knew most of them. We had a laid back asado (barbecue) and ate outside. We didn't actually eat until around 10:30/11:00, but we had a lot of appetizers while the meat was cooking. The asado consisted of sausage, morcilla*, and steak. The steak was the most tender steak I've ever had. It was delicious. We also had a variety of salads. Dinner was followed by 2 courses of dessert - first, pan dulce and second, ice cream.

At midnight, we toasted Navidad with champagne and everyone around us began shooting off fireworks. We went up on the roof to watch them. It was like the 4th of July. I still heard fireworks going off when I went to bed at 3:30 this morning. When Argentines have a celebration, it tends to last most of the night. Most of the family was still up when I went to bed. I guess that's why they don't have big celebrations on Christmas day, they're all sleeping after celebrating all night; however, I do still hear occasional fireworks going off in the distance.

We had a Christmas day service at 11:00 this morning. Chabela (pastor's wife) sent a lot of leftovers home with Xiomara and me, so Xiomara and I had a big lunch this afternoon. The rest of my day was spent making phone calls to my parents, brother and grandparents and finishing up some cleaning in preparation for my parents' arrival tomorrow morning.

Everything shuts down on Christmas day. The streets were empty as we were driving to church this morning. It's unusually quiet here around my apartment. I hear the occasional car pass by on the street, but no buses, no car horns, no people and I haven't even heard the train the usually passes behind my apartment every 15 minutes.

This year, for me Christmas has been completely about celebrating Christ's birth and relationships and not so focused on gift giving, etc. I haven't experienced the commercialized Christmas that I'm so accustomed to in the States. I did miss all the preparations - decorating, baking, shopping, caroling - but it was nice not having the stress that comes with the preparations. As I was getting ready for worship last night, I felt as excited and joyful as I feel every year when I'm getting ready for the Christmas Eve service. It's Christmas! And even though I miss being with my family, cold weather, and all the typical activities I do around this time of year, it was as exciting and joyful as always.

I pray that each of you has had a joyful, blessed Christmas as well!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Note: I have posted pics of Santo Sacramento (my congregation) and some from Christmas. Also, if you have a weak stomach, you may not want to read the description of morcilla below.

*Morcilla: Black Pudding - this one consisted of pig blood, pig tendons, onions, and chocolate. It look just like a black sausage. When I was being served, Angel asked if I knew what morcilla was. Everyone started laughing when I said "no" and he began to explain it to me. I tried it anyway and it was really good.