one more today?

this extra post is brought to you by: eliot's really long nap!

After blog hopping a little this afternoon, I've read two blogs about people in Guate for the holidays to visit their little ones. This increases the already strong feelings of nostalgia that have been going on all week. Last year we were at Hotel Casa Ovalle in Antigua. While it was just the three of us, we weren't without family. The Ovalle family that runs the bed & breakfast was so kind to include not only us but all the other guests in their holiday festivities. We ate tamales, had a visit from Santa and Merlin (Guate tradition; I'm not super sure about the details...), had champaign on the terrace watching the 10 different fireworks displays all around Antigua. While it was a Christmas situation we didn't see coming, I was incredibly homesick, and we had no money for presents, it was one of the most unforgettable times we'll have. Our hearts were so full.

Russ brought me all the Christmas cards that had been delivered to us before he flew down. So we covered our hotel room with pics of family and friends. Russ also bought tons of random cards and went around to groups of friends and made them all send me a holiday greeting. Our small group from church got a copy of The Night Before Christmas and wrote little notes to Eliot in the front cover. Russ snuck my stocking down in his suitcase and filled it before I woke up on Christmas. We went out for a special Christmas Eve dinner with Jackie, her ninera Evelyn and Solei, our fostering buddies. Antigua, a normally beautiful landscape, was covered in white lights and Christmas decorations making it seem picture perfect.