Navidad

This was my first year spending Christmas away from my family. I mentioned before in a previous blog how I did not feel in the holiday spirit here in Honduras, due to weather and other environmental differences. However, Christmas on the ranch was a very special time of year that I hope to be a part of again.

When Anna and Justin came to visit me in early December, they brought with them University of Michigan t-shirts for each of my 32 girls as well as Grand Rapids Public School lanyards. I wrapped each t-shirt and attached a numbered key chain (1-32) to each lanyard. In this way, the gift-giving would be like a game. I did turno with my girls on Christmas Eve.
On Christmas Eve we spent the day playing blackjack and listening to my iPod. In the evening, we had a candlelit march from Casa Suyapa to the church. All the pequenos received "estrenos"/new outfits, which they all proudly and excitedly wore. On the way, during our parading march, we sang Christmas carols. Misa/mass lasted two hours long. Then we headed to El Buen Pastor, where the boys' hogars are, and had a communal dinner of nakatamales, which are Honduran tamales. The rest of the evening was a bit of a "relajo"/craziness. There was a huge fogata/bonfire, a showing of the movie of the birth of Christ, soccer, coffee, and apples. The activity went until 12:30am. I was super-tired by this point and getting a little nervous about playing Santa in the middle of the night for my hogar. When we returned to hogar I read Charlotte's Web to my girls until they fell asleep. Then I set my alarm for 4:30 in the morning so I could lay out their presents. Whoa! I have so much respect for my mom and dad for being Santa all those years! It was really hard to place all the presents without any of the girls waking up! Shannon, a fellow volunteer, gave me goodie bags to place in each of my girls' beds. Well, the goodie bags were made of cellophane and made tons of noise as I moved them around. Not to mention that I had to climb triple bunk beds in the dark...it was not easy. I also had to wake up one of my girls, who has HIV, in the middle of the night to give her medication, so I did not get much sleep.
My girls woke up around 7:00 and 8:00am. They discovered their goodie bags filled with lip gloss, hot sauce, hand mirrors, candy, etc. Then I handed each girl a lanyard. The number on the lanyard indicated the order for which they would pick out their gift under the tree. When all the girls had their gift in hand, they opened them in unison. It was fun to see their reactions as they opened the gifts. Some were really happy, others wanted to trade for a different color. Again, I sympathize with my mom and dad now and how they felt all those years of my sisters and me opening gifts and pouting. I had all my girls put on their t-shirts and we took a group picture of the hogar all U of M'ed out. Soon after I went to get the extra lanyards that were left over, which I was going to give to the tias/caregivers of the hogar. But, they were gone. Here comes the Christmas morning drama.

The lanyards were in a plastic bag hidden next to a shelf and now they were gone. I know robbery and theft on the ranch is common, and not to be taken personally, but I was not going to stand for it on Christmas day. I asked who had taken the lanyards and told them they were for the tias. Girls started accusing each other and arguing a little bit. I raised my voice and let them know that I was really disappointed in all of them. I didn't care who stole the lanyards, I just wanted them back. They had just received gifts from me and we had shared in a really great morning together and now it is ruined. I told them that I had other surprises waiting for them, but if the lanyards didn't show up...no more surprises from me. Some of the girls started going crazy trying to figure out who did it. Others were pleading with me that it wasn't fair and that only one girl had stolen the lanyards, so only one girl should be punished. But I held firm and told them that they are one hogar, like sisters, and they need to work together. Then I left...furious, disappointed, and sad. Vanessa, Kris, and Monica were all in Casa Personal when I got there, so they were really supportive and understanding. The ranch activity for Christmas day was to walk to neighboring pueblos and deliver presents. As fun as it sounded, my spirits were low, so I stayed behind. I also wanted my hogar to understand that I was seriously hurt by what had happened, so I didn't go.

Later in the afternoon, I brought a plastic bag to the hogar. I sat all the girls down and told them that I didn't care who stole the lanyards. All I cared about was them working together to get the lanyards back. I placed the plastic bag under a bed and told them I would be back for dinner. If the lanyards were in the bag, cool, no questions asked, we're all good. If the lanyards were not in the bag, no more surprises, cakes, candy, etc. I think they took me pretty seriously because they all started to "revisar"/check each others lockers for the missing lanyards.


When I returned at 6:00pm for dinner, the girls came running out to tell me that the lanyards had appeared. I checked the plastic bag under the bed, and in fact there were lanyards in the bag; however, they were not the missing lanyards...they were lanyards that the girls had received and put in the bag in order to "save the hogar". Well, I explained to them that it was really great how they worked together and sacrificed their own lanyards; however, they were not the correct ones. Then I started to walk out the door. Well, the girls started going crazy once again looking for the lanyards. I went outside and sat down. Some of the girls were mentioning to me that they saw Cindy, one of the girls, with the lanyards. So, I sat down next to her and asked her if she knew anything about the lanyards. She looked me right in the eye, and said, "No.". The next thing you know I hear a bunch of screaming and cheering coming from inside the hogar. The girls had found the lanyards...in Cindy's backpack. Man, did she feel like crap! She bowed her head and wouldn't look at anyone. The girls were all so proud of themselves for working together and earning back their privileges. While I felt bad for Cindy, I hope that all of this taught her (and the rest of the girls) a lesson. It turns out that Cindy was going on a "visita"/visit with her brothers to visit her mother the next day and wanted something to give to them as presents. It is my thinking that this is why she took the lanyards. To this day, Cindy will not look at, talk to me, or accept anything from me due to her "pena"/embarrassment.

While Christmas day involved some drama, it was a memorable day. I believe it brought me much closer to my girls and we have a much stronger bond now.