Feliz Navidad in April

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year... only 3.5 months too late.  We have been having some technical difficulties plus it has just been a very busy year thus far.  We have lots to catch up on and we are going to be much better about sending out posts (now that our photoshop program is back up and running).  But we didn't want to skip anything, and thus the post about Navidad and New Years.

We hope that everyone started the year off well and enjoyed a wonderful holiday with their family and friends. Victor and I spent our first Christmas as a married couple with his family in Chile.  It was the first time in over 7 years that I have not had to pack my bags and fly for the holidays, as we only had a 20 minute drive to the family Countryside house, and it was indeed a wonderful holiday. We joined Victor's family on Christmas Eve for a dinner out under the stars.  As it was the middle of summer here, the Christmas traditions didn't involve snow men, snow ball fights and lots of layers to clothes.  Instead, we were in shorts, enjoying the pool (see the photo below) and could stay outdoors and enjoy the warm summer evening for Christmas evening.  We were a party of 20 so we put 2 picnic tables together and ate a wonderful meal. 

Following the meal we enjoyed a long standing family tradition:  all the kids in the family dress up and do a play of the nativity scene.  This has been a tradition that Victor did as a kid, and now his nephews and nieces are doing it.  They are adorable, and all of the adults sit back and enjoy the show, which lasts around 15 minutes, with the Mom's and Dad's helping along the way to make sure that no body misses their part.  

Once the show has come to an end, then the fun begins as everyone opens their presents. I must say, coming from a family of 3 where we do presents in a very orderly and one-by-one fashion, the incredibly amount of energy, ripping of papers and laughs from all the people opening presents at once was overwhelming and quite the change.  I must say that being a kid in the Silva family (as this is Victor's Mom's family) looks like fun.  They got all sorts of fun stuff!

                 Amongst the toys, there were a few gifts that Victor and I had purchased for Victor's Godson, Joaquin, who is the 4th son of Victor's cousin.  While we were impressed with our gift, the little guy was not so much, but the box!  Oh boy!  That was a different matter and he played with, chewed on, and was enamored by the box for a full day straight.  Moral of the story.. just buy boxes for kids, don't worry about what is inside. 

Carmela (Victor's Mom), Isabel (Victor's Sister) and Martita (Victor's Aunt) 
and I on Christmas Eve enjoying presents my parents sent from The States.

On Christmas Day we laid around the pool, had a BBQ and relaxed. I have to say that while I did miss a bit of the snowy holiday cheer, I really enjoyed the beautiful day.  In some ways it felt like a perfect summer weekend but with lots of presents.  Perhaps a tradition that we should start in The States.

We hope that everyone started off the year with a splash of some sort, and that the past few months, have been filled with good times.

We will be writing more soon to fill you in on our 2nd wedding here in Chile, as well as some of our location adventures.

All the best for 2011 (what is left of it ;)!

-Dessa and Victor