Merry Christmas!

Today, I got to play Santa and visit all of the different houses at the orphanage to deliver gifts! The kids were adorable, all dressed up in their Christmas outfits. It was so much fun to see their expressions, and to be part of their Christmas.

Christmas Cookies

This past Tuesday we had a major bake-a-thon. About 70 kids came to take part in making Christmas cookies. I baked with them for over four hours. We made candy cane cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, and chocolate chip cookies. The kids were very creative and they loved making and decorating all the cookies. The night of baking ended with the kids delivering the cookies house to house while singing "Feliz Navidad."

Rolling out shapes

Icing the cookies

Delivering the cookies (spontaneous caroling)

The Nativity Competition!

Things here have been busy with getting ready for Christmas. We have Christmas parties, a Christmas program at school, and amigo secreto (secret friend) exchanges going on. Each year at the orphanage each of the houses competes in a Christmas tree and nativity competition. The house that I am currently at decided to do a gingerbread/candy type nativity scene. So for the last couple nights we have been working full force since we would like to win the competition. Things were looking good last night, until one of the kids ate Mary and the Star of Bethlehem crashed to the floor in the middle of the night. I'm proud to say that baby Jesus has survived in his Milky Way wrapper. I will let you know the outcome of the competition next week. I think we could place a solid 11 out of 12.

The Star of Bethlehem made out of gumdrops



In the beginning process of construction - materials: candy, candy, and more candy!