Christmas In Our World

We hope that Papa Noel was good to everyone and that time spent with family and friends was all that you had hoped it to be. Christmas Eve and Christmas day were obviously different for us, and we had often wondered how the holidays might look. Well, we had a very nice time, and this edition is simply a quick "unwrapping" of our Christmas. For the most part, we'll let the pictures do the talking in this edition. Oh . . . and a warning before I get started . . . you will find an unusually high number of pictures of me!

On Christmas Eve (afternoon) we decided to go for a walk and returned to the area near our old apartment in Vina del Mar. This sand sculpture is an interesting philosophical statement!







We expected to see more people on the beach. Perhaps they were still out shopping!
That's Renaca in the background. Concon is beyond that, behind the dunes.





Valparaiso is a naval base and a port so there is always a variety of ships in the bay.





This is a giant sun dial near the beach. If not for daylight savings time, it would have been right on the mark!






Each Christmas eve morning, Charlene likes to listen to the CBC Morning Edition program called "Christmas Card of the Air". People from all over Saskatchewan phone in to wish others a Merry Christmas. She decided it would be cool to try a call from Chile.....amazingly, she got in and was able to speak to Sheila (the host) and pass along a greeting. Did any of you hear her?
Our evening was spent on the phone, on the computer, and puttering around with last minute preparations for the big day! We also listened to a radio drama called "The Shepherd". CBC plays it every year on Christmas eve and it is part of our tradition. It was a nice little bit of home!

And now . . . the big day!
With great patience, we managed to shoot this before we tore into the loot!





After a Christmas morning service at church and a phone call home to Andrea and Justin, we were off to our see our Californian amigos, Bill and Alethea, in Concon. (This picture of their home was shot in October. I have resurrected it to better reference the setting)



Their back yard consists of a small, but private, patio and that is where we would celebrate in the company of new friends.





A friend of Bill and Alethea's, Susana, also joined us. Her English is far better than our Spanish will ever be! Although she had some instruction in school, she has taught herself the language! Amazing! She was very excited about having gone to a Madonna concert in Santiago earlier this month (notice the shirt). Susana had arrived to the concert early and was near the stage when Madonna came out and involved her in the warm up prior to the show.



Bill is a professionally trained chef (and a carpenter). Our Christmas dinner started with pizza (homemade, of course). Our main course was barbecued chicken breasts and sausage with buns and salad. It was all very good . . .



Here we are . . . but what's really important is what is on the table . . . . Peanut Butter Cheesecake . . . .



and chocolates!!!! Mmmmmm!



We also had one other guest drop in from time to time. We do miss our kitties at home!



And finally, a quick dip in the pool at our apartment before retiring to watch a movie.



And that is what Christmas, 2008, looked like for us. I'm sorry for the extra "Norm" content . . . I'll try not to let that happen again! December 26 is not a holiday in Chile so its back to the grind today!!

We were Santiago recently and that blog should be up tomorrow. And stay tuned as there are some interesting things in the works!

Hasta Luego,
Amor,
Norm and Charlene