The Tongen Family Blog: The Heart of Christmas

The five of us seemed to understand more of the heart of Christmas this year! Paul drew pictures for 70 Christmas cards while Micah wrote notes in Spanish on them and I wrapped the socks for the kids of Casa Cuna and Casa Matriz. I treasure this more and more frequent sight of them joyfully serving. Micah, Paul and Samuel consistently say that the highlight of Christmas was having two kids live with us for 11 days. Anthony and I agree. I have never seen Anthony as excited for Christmas as he was this year!

Pre-Christmas celebrations were fun! One of the posadas (Christmas parties) we went to with our new friends Manuel, Adriana and their 3 boys included impressive professional dancers.

Our fútbol club had a great posada, too. Samuel is understandably drooling over the DELICIOUS food while his dad runs all over the fútbol field playing with other dads who have played this kind of fútbol (as opposed to football) their whole lives. Can you believe that I scored the only goal in the first half of the mom's game, helping my team win 3-1?

Of course posadas include piñatas that were bigger than Paul to begin with.

Micah's friend Julieta had her birthday party at the McDonald's. Another one of Micah's friends had her birthday at the Burger King today, but he was winning a soccer game at the same time.

I had to laugh on the first day of winter (the second day of break) when the boys went outside and made music in the shade, since they thought that they had not been outside enough that day.

The government-sponsored posada included clowns and other acts.

Paul and Isis are such wonderful friends. I am pretty sure that they can spend hours sitting and talking with each other. Her mom Isis (in red) and I enjoy time together too, and I have gotten to help her little David get over his separation anxiety by working in the church nursery.

After the Governor's wife finished giving her speech at the posada, she and her photo crew came directly to our kids for a photo opp. I forgot to check the newspapers for the "guerrito" publicity picture. Plus, Isis and I were too busy laughing at the situation to take a good picture while everyone was looking.

During his Christmas vacation, Samuel got to play with Barbies and My Little Ponies for the first time in his life. One of our guests was very patient in teaching him about those toys she had just received from a generous doctor. Have I mentioned what a sweet Christmas this was?

We really enjoyed time together (the 7 of us) during Christmas break. It is amazing how long the vacation feels when you aren't travelling during it.

Don't all parks have squirrel seats?

Our friends Claudia and Mauricio and their two sons were so welcoming to invite us to their extended family Christmas gathering. We enjoyed the party from 8:30 pm until we left at 2 am! Micah will always be able to say that he played soccer outside at midnight on Christmas Eve. The hospitality here puts me to shame time and time again. Would I invite someone (who barely spoke my language and had 5 kids under the age of 8 along) to my Grandpa's house for Christmas dinner? The heart of Christmas hospitality: opening your inn or stable for the foreigner and the outcast.

Christmas morning was possibly my favorite ever. The 5 kids acted out the Christmas story in Spanish with the use of the Playmobil Nativity that D'Anna gave them and the Spanish story Bible. The kids were thrilled with the few little gifts they gave and received for Christmas. A wooden top, a puzzle, a book, a wooden toy, a plastic toy, something homemade, and a ball are more than enough treasures. We feasted simply with low-effort, yet freshly yummy food. There was plenty of time to play together outside. I was able to take extra time to read the Bible (or was it being read to me by someone who loves to read out loud in Spanish?)

No, the Duct-Tape Bible on the couch was not new -- Great Aunt Cheryl gave that to the boys years ago. This coin-bank is a monkey made out of a coconut wearing their fútbol team's uniform.

Two days later: the Regional Park has majestic lions.

and incredible iguanas along with boats to paddle around the iguanas' islands.

The next day, we went to the Volcano National Park. It was a pretty bad day since two sweet kids (whose last names are not Tongen) were awfully car-sick and/or elevation-sick. The language barrier wasn't usually a problem, but we unfortunately didn't understand "comitar" (actually vomitar=to vomit) until it was too late. 5 messes later, we returned home without hiking the volcanoes or playing in the snow. My many failed efforts at "redeeming the day" reminded me that only Jesus can redeem. The heart of Christmas love: redemption.

The day at the beach was wonderful. I had a cold, yet it was still a blissful day. Can you believe how many people were there? It seems like everyone from México city takes the 10 hour bus ride to our beach for vacation. One friend from México city I made at the beach (age 5) asked me why I spoke that way when she heard me speaking Spanish with our guests. I explained that I come from another country. Later in the day, she introduced me to her dad and told him, "Ella es de otra mundo." (She is from another world.) How accurate she was.

Paul posed just before the sandcastle got crushed by the soccer game on the right.

Paul spent some of his tooth fairy money on churros for all of us. Things that have become normal #28: phone booths in use.

In case if you were wondering, here is how Paul rang in the New Year.

I'm pretty sure he hatched out of his chrysalis as a butterfly the next day. The heart of Christmas power: transformation.

Now do you believe me? (The boys wanted this picture of one of their "pet" geckos, in the bottom left corner of the photo. I wanted this picture for Peyton.) The boys eagerly cleaned the house partly as a birthday gift to Anthony.

The Dairy Queen Blizzard cake for Anthony's birthday tasted so "American."

He got a ripstick (two-wheeled skateboard) for his birthday. He and Micah have had fun riding it in our neighborhood park.

Does snow on the volcano count as a White Christmas? Regardless, we had an especially wonderful one.

A few days later, the active volcano strutted its stuff, too.

For 3 Kings' Day, we enjoyed Rosca de Reyes and Micah got the baby Jesus figurine (meaning he gets to make tamales for us on Feb. 2.) Rather than giving the boys each three more gifts like they do here, we continued with our tradition of each donating 3 things to people who are less-fortunate. The heart of Christmas gift-giving: gold, for Jesus' royalty; frankincense for Jesus' divinity; myrrh for Jesus' humanity.

The boys' beautiful new school is ready! They had a worship service the night before the first day of school. Possibly the coolest part of the story of this building is that they received this awesome land years ago. Instead of building right away, however, pastor Nahum, his family, the church, and the school dedicated themselves to caring for street children. Hogar Amor (the "orphanage" we always talk about) was established and now that it is thriving, they built the school.

Samuel and I have LOVED this shady playground during our 2 hours of waiting for the bigger boys everyday. Do you think the new Covenant Presbyterian playground will be in pastels, too?