Our Happy Holidays

I am sorry for my delay in posting in this blog.  Usually the holidays for us are low key, with a few scattered events and a quiet Christmas as well as New Year's at home, but this year, it's a whole new world!

The first exciting event came on the 21st as we got to help out and witness first-hand the wonderful generosity of our dear friends Bob and Rox.  We rented a suite from them in June and as well when we returned in November.  Bob and Rox helped us so much with our decision to live in Ecuador. They both have huge hearts and we saw that in action when we attended their Christmas party for the neighborhood (barrio) children.  With the help of donations, but mostly single-handedly, Bob and Rox plan, purchase, and organize an event for around 350 kids and their mamas!  Each child gets to come up and visit Santa, receive a toy, a bag of treats, and have lunch in Bob and Rox's lovely backyard by the sea.  There is music, laughter, and lots of hugs and smiles.  The reaction of the children when Papa Noel appeared was priceless.  Bill and I had so much fun helping out that day. Bill helped take out the trays and trays of food for everyone, and I got to help the ladies put together the  lunches. Incredibly, Bob and Rox served us dinner on their deck that night as well! Bob even took pictures of each and every child with Santa, which he had printed and handed out to each family later in the week.  If you would like to help them with next year's event, you can find their blog by Googling "Bob and Rox Ecuador." It's on Squarespace.

Rox with Papa Noel, beginning the gift giving!

 Sometimes it's just too exciting and a nap is required. 

The next series of events which we attended and helped was the fundraising efforts of local expats who raised money to purchase a refrigeration system for the local orphanage.  There was a beautiful sunset concert, with music by college students from Quito.  There was a silent auction as well. Several expats also organized a lovely dinner to raise money.  I posted the web site for friends and family to donate to the cause and all the fundraising efforts were successful! The new refrigeration is purchased and will be installed shortly!  Bill and I recently visited the orphanage with our friend Erwin Musper.  I will write a post all about the orphanage at a later date, but I will tell you it was a life changing event for me. If you would like to donate to this wonderfull cause, please go to https://www.youcaring.com/orphanage-sant-maria-de-la-esperanza-ecuador-617532?fb_action_ids=1342146185798810&fb_action_types=youcaringcom%3Ashare. The money donated will help to keep freezer full of food for the 60-70 kids who live at the orphanage.

To thank the expats for their work on fund raising and also their work on putting together backpacks full of toys for every child in the orphanage, the children put together a beautiful Christmas pageant. Two wonderful friends of ours devoted many hours of practice helping some of the older girls learn to play keyboard and guitar.  They learned Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley. A local singer accompanied the girls. There was not a dry eye in the house.  The children also presented a pageant representing the birth of the baby Jesus with dancing and actors.  It was a special day.

These little boys were my favorite part of the pageant.  They loved spinning the straw hats on their heads before the performance started.  It was fun to watch the teachers trying to herd this group. 

 Our sweet friend, Woot, who is the perfect Papa Noel handed out gifts to each child in the orphanage.

Erwin speaking seriously to the wonderful woman who runs the orphanage. I imagine they're thinking up another great project to work on for the kids. 

Our son, Kevin flew in on Christmas Eve day.  What a perfect gift for me! We enjoyed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day visiting new friends and enjoying time together. We finished Christmas with a wonderful turkey dinner at our friends Bob and Rox.  To say that having Christmas dinner with wonderful friends while watching the sun set on the Pacific Ocean was a special event for us is an understatement.  I simply couldn't believe I was there!

New Year's celebrations in Manglaralto, and all over Ecuador, are full of traditions and fun.  For three days before New Year's, many young men in the community spend the evenings dressed as women.  They parade through the town and go door to door dancing and playing music.  These men are called "la mojigas" and it is expected that you give them small coins or beer to get them to move on.  Then on New Year's Eve, they shed their costumes and return back to their original form, and the party continues.  Another tradition throughout Ecuador is the burning of effigies.  Many households purchase an effigy to burn at midnight in order to get rid of the bad luck and start a fresh new year.  Many of the effigies are super heroes or comic book heroes.  This year, we purchased a Pikachu effigy and burned it on the beach at midnight as fireworks were going off up and down the coast.

There is always one old man and old woman in the group of dancers. They represent the old year. 

This was truly an unforgettable holiday for Bill and me.  I was so lucky to get to share it with Kevin and our new friends here in Ecuador.  Here's to many more celebrations!

Happy 2017!