Our dancing smiley face

Claire's school held its annual holiday show on December 1. It was mostly dancing and had nothing to do with the actual holidays - just a chance for the kids to show us what they can do and for us to be proud parents. Claire's preschool class partnered with a pre-kinder class and they danced to a song called "Mambo" as giant smiley faces. It was ridiculously cute. All the kids did a nice job (preschool through 9th grade)... [ Video here if you would like to see. ]

The wildly dancing smiley faces 

Our own crazy little smiley face

Claire is very excited that it's December because it's the month of Christmas. Graham's brother Bart is going to spend the week of Christmas with us - we can't wait to see him! This will be the first Christmas neither one of us has traveled since college - crazy thought. This will also be the first year in a long, long time that I won't bake gingerbread cookies. I don't have the supplies (cookie cutter, etc.), and molasses isn't available here. I'm happy to share my recipe if any of you find yourselves jonesing for some gingerbread...

It feels weird that it's almost Christmas since it's 70-80 degrees here and sunny. There's also a strong wind and it gets cooler at night. For Costa Ricans, this weather means Christmas (they even call it the "Christmas wind" and we hear it gets stronger). We did put up a little tree, which helps us feel more festive. Here Christmas and New Year's are the times families go to the beach. Very different traditions... The traditional food for the day is tamales - not the corn husk-wrapped ones we think of in the U.S. - Costa Rican tamales are wrapped in banana leaves. Eggnog ("rompope" or "ponche") is also popular (and is most often sold in stores with the rum already in it), as is coffee, hot chocolate, or agua dulce (a hot drink like warm vanilla milk).

Our little tree - we're still looking for a star and a tree skirt (oh, for a Target...)

We're looking forward to our first Costa Rican Christmas!

The Spanish Summary:

La escuela de Claire tuvo una exhibición para Navidad – los niños bailaron y eran muy linda. [ Hay un video aquí si quiere ver. ]

Claire está muy emocionada para Navidad. Su tío Bart va a visitarnos por la semana de Navidad. Esta Navidad es la primera que ni Graham o yo no vamos a viajar desde la universidad. Tampoco, yo no voy a hornear los hombres de pan de jengibre porque no tengo las herramientas y no hay melaza aquí. Yo estaría feliz a compartir mi receta para las galletas si alguien lo quiere…

Lo sentamos extraño que es casi Navidad y hace mucho calor y sol. También, hay un viento fuerte y hace más frio en la noche. Para los costarricenses, esos significan que Navidad está cerca. Tenemos un pequeño árbol y lo es muy festivo. Aquí la gente viaja a la playa para Navidad y el nuevo año – las tradiciones son muy diferentes que en los Estados. La comida tradicional es los tamales (en hojas de banano), con rompope o café o chocolate caliente o agua dulce.

¡Nosotros esperamos para nuestra primera Navidad en Costa Rica!