glad tidings of gallo pinto and banana trees

Well. we invited many people to share Christmas with us, but they had better things to do.. Mm. Sad. BUT, we have decided to eat anyway. Not just eat, but have a delicious meal. I was reading the original Charles Dickens Christmas Carol and it made me want to enjoy all the christmas food I can. So.. we will be making (and eat your hearts out all those volunteers who have cooler places to be.. like the states) Stuffing, cottage cheese loaf, eggnog, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, homemade bread, and banana creme pie. Dang Gina! I think we will probably be trying to hop around to some peoples houses to see what their Christmas is like. So many people

have invited us to their house, only to be completley shriveled up with dismay when they remember that we dont eat meat. They absolutley cant get around it and feel embarrassed to have us over because they cant offer us food. Its a roughy.

Well, on another note, our mural in the Casa Materna is coming right along. And good thing too because we dont have much else going on right now due to holidays, vacations, coffee cutting season and end of year. So this is good. Its pretty fun especially since we are not trying to direct kids to paint it, and we can just do what we want. More pics to follow after we obtain some different paint colors and continue working.
The casa materna had its ¨Christmas¨Party the other night and it was such a fun example Nicaraguan last minute improvision. I arrived at 11am because they didnt know what time it would start. We started at 5pm. So that was a long day of waiting around. I got kind of dirty hauling rocks to entertain myself and then everyone went and dressed up. So that sucked. The midwives there do not get paid, but through some grants from NGO´s they usually get these ¨baskets¨full of stuff. They were HUGE! They had beans, rice, oil, sugar, salt, coffee, corn, tang etc. Basically all the things they eat every day. SUPER FUN HUH! But, I guess poverty will do that to a person. They are very needed things. We also had a secret friend gift exchange. I got some cute little glass angels. Here we are, all the people that work at the casa, except the little oldest midwife, Doña Berta, who was hiding in the doorway. Notice how tall I am. funny huh.

Well, Merry Freakin Christmas , or Hannuka, or Merry Allholidays, and a Happy New Year full of dishwashers and electricity and hot running water every day, curling irons, punctuality, cars, carpet, couches, cereal, ovens, blenders, insulation, snow, safety, english, movie theatres, pizza, santa claus, no moskito netted beds, no 3 inch cocroaches, family and all of it.

Love kory and heather,... the amazing.