Christmas in Honduras

The day was Christmas Eve and some of us spent the day cleaning the house while my mom made the customary Pierna de Cerdo (Roast pork leg), turkey, mashed potatoes and penne pasta in alfredo sauce. It took the whole day to cook our meal which would start at midnight.

We went to a church service at about 7:15 pm which started at about 8:00 pm because they were waiting for more people to arrive, but it is a very cultural thing here in Honduras that sometimes people arrive very late. After two hours of worship mixed with short skits that the youth had put together, we had to leave to head for the Kennedy and the pastor had not even given his message yet. It was about 10:00 pm when we headed to visit with my grandma and family who live in a subdivision called La Kennedy. When we arrived the party was in full swing with music and dancing and laughing and all that goes on at parties here in Honduras. The music was really loud and ranged from old ballads to merengue to punta to regatton. Everyone was eager to help the gringo (Matt) learn to move those hips :) It was quite a scene and they were all pretty impressed that he could dance so well. My dad even thought he was drinking because he was so loose on the dance floor :)

There were about 20 adults plus 8 roaming and wild kids running around in a room about 10´by 15´ while my cousin tried to run her pulperia (a very small convenience store) in a small room on the side of the house . It was crowded, but so much fun! Rebekah slept through most of it in the back bedroom which was only about 15 ´from the living room so there was not much quiet. Just before midnight we turned on the radio to count down the seconds until Christmas day and there was much excitement. People in the alley were starting to get their fireworks ready to usher in the 25th. When the radio announced that midnight had come we all hugged and kissed each other and wished each other Merry Christmas. I truly enjoyed that moment as I hugged my family after four years of celebrating apart from them in the states. It was special! Fireworks were going off in the alley as we passed around plates of food and everyone ate.

We had been thinking and praying for an opportunity to share the true meaning of Christmas and Christ with our family sometime during the Christmas Eve celebration and up to that point we hadn´t seen an opportunity to bring the family together to share with them. We had tried to make plans, but they had failed. But the Lord in His Sovereignty had already gone before us. We were both surprised when Tio (uncle) John asked Matt and I to pray for the whole family. As he gathered everyone and we all joined hands, Matt shared about the reason why we celebrate Christmas and that only in Christ can we truly love each other. I also added that only in having a relationship with Christ can we truly be fulfilled and that other things such as alcohol, relationships, material possessions will never be able to satisfy that void in our hearts. Then we prayed and we were amazed and grateful to the Lord that He had given us this opportunity that we had so desired. God is good and He is truly glorified!

After a while, we came back to my parent´s house where the party continued all night long...literally :) We went to bed at about 3:30 am and we heard the booming of the stereo and occasional fireworks until 6:30 am. That´s some wild party! Fortunately Rebekah slept through all of it, and unfortunately we didn´t :) We were up by 9:00 am with a very active and happy little girl :)

All the family came over Christmas day for the food my mom had prepared and we ate once again.

All in all, I enjoyed most of the celebration and most importantly being able to be with my parents, grandma, cousins, uncles and aunts and all the kids! It was a blast. In all the celebration, I was somewhat disappointed that the focus was so secular (drinking, dancing, eating, etc) and that Christ was pretty much out of the picture except for the one moment the Lord gave us to share about Jesus Christ. It truly is an empty and worthless life without Christ. I am grateful for salvation and that Matt and I have the opportunity to raise our family as a new generation that will serve and glorify God in all that we do.