Feliz Navidad!

A few of you have asked about how Christmas is celebrated in Peru. We are not going to be here for the big day (more on that below) but we have been going to advent masses and have seen Christmas nonsense explode across stores far and wide, not unlike in the U.S.

However, one difference that we have noticed has been nativity scenes, called nacimientos. JP and I helped put together the nacimiento at the Posta one afternoon a few weeks ago.  Used to what we have at home, I was expecting a stable, Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus, some shepherds and sheep, maybe a donkey, and some wise men.  However, the Peruvian nacimiento has a whole different feel.  Check it out:

First of all, it starts with the paper--lots of crinkled, painted paper that the doctors used to make a background and a sort-of-cave to put the baby in. As we unpacked the statues, it became clear that there were two sets of Mary and Joseph and baby, so they decided to put the smaller one on the box below the large one.  Then, my favorite part, we started to unpack the animals.  Not only were there your typical stable/manger animals, but there was also the Christmas giraffe, the Christmas ducks, the Christmas rabbits, etc.  But we put them all around the family, chilling and waiting for the baby Jesus.  This seems to be the norm, rather than the exception--we went to a friend's house in town this week for a visit and she had a huge nacimiento with the same paper, and cave, and menagerie of animals.  It is a lot of fun to see the different statues and animals even though the overall concept is very similar.

In terms of our Christmas plans, today is our last day at Miguel Pro, although school will continue for 3 half-days until the 23rd. Grades are due today so we don't expect to miss much in terms of activities, although they may cram in a few last minute things.  We will be leaving Tacna on Sunday afternoon, taking an overnight bus to Lima that arrives on Monday, and then hanging out in Lima for most of Monday until we go to the airport for our 12:30 am flight on (technically) Tuesday morning.  From there will we make our way through a few US airports before arriving in Ohio on the afternoon of the 22nd.  We are very excited to be coming home to celebrate the holidays and catch up with family and friends, but we expect the blog may be quiet for a little bit.  We may try to catch up if we have old photos or stories while we are in the States. 

One more look at the nacimiento:

An early Feliz Navidad to one and all!