A better late than never post...Sorry I did not get this posted before the New Year!
Merry Christmas! I hope this Christmas season finds you well in the company of those you love. While I spent my second consecutive Christmas in Honduras at the Farm this year, I was able to celebrate with my family early as my Mom, Dad, and sister Meghan came down to visit for the week leading up to the 25th. Showing them the Farm was like waiting 3-1/2 years to open a Christmas present, owing to the fact that I´ve looked forward to my family visiting since I first got to know the Farm in 2006.
This year´s celebration of Jesus´ birth at the Farm of the Child was beautiful as ever. The volunteers play Santa Claus for our children as visions of sugar plum fairies dance in their heads on the night of the 23rd (yes, that´s correct, Santa comes one day early here – how else could he hit the whole world on the night of the 24th?). Then on the morning of the 24th, the children wake up early with wonder and surprise to see the little treasures under their decorated, 2-foot artificial Christmas trees.
As the children begin to stir, houseparents and volunteers arise at dawn (some as early as 4:00am) to mill the corn that will make tamales – the only appropriate thing for one to eat in Honduras on the night of the 24th. We spend all day working on the tamales and by the afternoon we realize that once again we´ve made way more than can ever be eaten in just one day.
The true festivities begin in the evening at 5 o´clock when we celebrate the final night of Posadas – a Latin American tradition to reflect on and commemorate Joseph and Mary´s search for a place to stay in the days before the first Christmas in Bethlehem. At 7 o´clock, our most dynamic and charismatic priest from town, Padre Felipe, comes to share Mass with us. Afterwards we join with the entire Farm community and our neighbors to eat the endless supply of tamales. Our young kids present a miniature and lackadaisical Christmas pageant followed by a humorous rendition of the Christmas Carol (featuring Bob Marley) that´s performed by our older kids.
By this time, it´s a little after 10 o´clock and we only have to wait two more hours for the arrival of the 25th when Jesus is born. To fight off the sleepiness that especially hits the little ones, we put on some music and dance. At a few minutes before midnight, we flee from the site of the dance to the soccer field in the middle of the Farm where we wait for the clock to strike twelve. Then, when all is quiet and the hour is right, we join our hands in a prayer led by our Franciscan Sister director – acknowledging the Christmas joy of God with us. We share hugs under the starry night sky and then drift into our respective houses where we will rest well.
In the days that follow, tamales continue to abound. If you stop by a neighbor's house, they'll offer you at least two. Even if we don't step foot out the door, it's likely that someone will arrive to drop some off at our house. But for all of the time and effort that goes into them, it doesn't take long to realize that it was never about eating the tamales.
The joy of tamales is the journey of making them: the process of cooking the corn, running it through the hand-cranked mill, cooking the chicken, wrapping it all in the leaf of a banana tree, and giving it a final boil. And then sharing it.
Earlier this month, we had eleven awesome volunteers return to their home countries after completing 27 valiant months as volunteers. As exciting as it is to watch them branch out into their adult lives with the experience of serving at the Farm, I know that I am not yet ready. I still have a ways to journey, to share with others, and to be remade as a volunteer here at the Farm. The joy is in the journey.
This second year is going well. I feel very called to serve as the Farm's sub-director. The work load is heavy; there is a complex fabric of all of the people who come together to make this project work. Yet the scope and quality of the relationships that I find myself in here continue to amaze me. Things are constantly changing, but this is where I'm supposed to be.
I wish you a happy and healthy and hopeful New Year! Thank you so much for sticking with me on this journey, for staying in touch, and for the many ways you support me!
Peace and Christmas blessings,
Peter
Merry Christmas! I hope this Christmas season finds you well in the company of those you love. While I spent my second consecutive Christmas in Honduras at the Farm this year, I was able to celebrate with my family early as my Mom, Dad, and sister Meghan came down to visit for the week leading up to the 25th. Showing them the Farm was like waiting 3-1/2 years to open a Christmas present, owing to the fact that I´ve looked forward to my family visiting since I first got to know the Farm in 2006.
This year´s celebration of Jesus´ birth at the Farm of the Child was beautiful as ever. The volunteers play Santa Claus for our children as visions of sugar plum fairies dance in their heads on the night of the 23rd (yes, that´s correct, Santa comes one day early here – how else could he hit the whole world on the night of the 24th?). Then on the morning of the 24th, the children wake up early with wonder and surprise to see the little treasures under their decorated, 2-foot artificial Christmas trees.
As the children begin to stir, houseparents and volunteers arise at dawn (some as early as 4:00am) to mill the corn that will make tamales – the only appropriate thing for one to eat in Honduras on the night of the 24th. We spend all day working on the tamales and by the afternoon we realize that once again we´ve made way more than can ever be eaten in just one day.
The true festivities begin in the evening at 5 o´clock when we celebrate the final night of Posadas – a Latin American tradition to reflect on and commemorate Joseph and Mary´s search for a place to stay in the days before the first Christmas in Bethlehem. At 7 o´clock, our most dynamic and charismatic priest from town, Padre Felipe, comes to share Mass with us. Afterwards we join with the entire Farm community and our neighbors to eat the endless supply of tamales. Our young kids present a miniature and lackadaisical Christmas pageant followed by a humorous rendition of the Christmas Carol (featuring Bob Marley) that´s performed by our older kids.
By this time, it´s a little after 10 o´clock and we only have to wait two more hours for the arrival of the 25th when Jesus is born. To fight off the sleepiness that especially hits the little ones, we put on some music and dance. At a few minutes before midnight, we flee from the site of the dance to the soccer field in the middle of the Farm where we wait for the clock to strike twelve. Then, when all is quiet and the hour is right, we join our hands in a prayer led by our Franciscan Sister director – acknowledging the Christmas joy of God with us. We share hugs under the starry night sky and then drift into our respective houses where we will rest well.
In the days that follow, tamales continue to abound. If you stop by a neighbor's house, they'll offer you at least two. Even if we don't step foot out the door, it's likely that someone will arrive to drop some off at our house. But for all of the time and effort that goes into them, it doesn't take long to realize that it was never about eating the tamales.
The joy of tamales is the journey of making them: the process of cooking the corn, running it through the hand-cranked mill, cooking the chicken, wrapping it all in the leaf of a banana tree, and giving it a final boil. And then sharing it.
Earlier this month, we had eleven awesome volunteers return to their home countries after completing 27 valiant months as volunteers. As exciting as it is to watch them branch out into their adult lives with the experience of serving at the Farm, I know that I am not yet ready. I still have a ways to journey, to share with others, and to be remade as a volunteer here at the Farm. The joy is in the journey.
This second year is going well. I feel very called to serve as the Farm's sub-director. The work load is heavy; there is a complex fabric of all of the people who come together to make this project work. Yet the scope and quality of the relationships that I find myself in here continue to amaze me. Things are constantly changing, but this is where I'm supposed to be.
I wish you a happy and healthy and hopeful New Year! Thank you so much for sticking with me on this journey, for staying in touch, and for the many ways you support me!
Peace and Christmas blessings,
Peter
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