Jwaye Nowel!

Yesterday and today have been very cheerful days! Even cleaning the base didn’t seem so bad. I’m having a completely new experience and I think it’s that I’m “in the Christmas spirit”. I finished cleaning yesterday with enough time to have a while to relax before lunch. After eating and a short afternoon meeting, we were free to do what we pleased with the day. Another volunteer, Lauren, and I went out to find gifts for our secret Santa’s. We went to the local market to look for presents. It was crazy and hectic and I left empty handed. The only options there would have been cooking oil or batteries, pretty much. On the way back to base I stopped and got a ton of Haitian candy and decided that would suffice as my gift (along with a couple of treats I brought from the States and a little poem). Once back on base I headed to the kitchen to do prep work for the big Christmas day meal as well as the chili and cornbread Christmas Eve dinner. Dinner last night came out great and everybody ate and ate and ate. For dessert we had more candy than we knew what to do with (though we managed to take care of it). After dinner I went out to do a little sky watching. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars shining as bright as last night. It was one of the most breath-taking things I’ve ever seen. Though I could have watched the stars all night I decided to go next door to Joe’s for my first Prestige (Haitian beer) of the trip. Before bed I hung around in the kitchen, chatting before sleeping.

I slept in this morning until 7:45! Now that it’s cooler, I don’t wake up every morning at 5:30, which is sweet. I basically spent the whole day in the kitchen, prepping and cooking Christmas dinner. It was a complete and total success. Everything turned out fantastic and everybody is having a wonderful night. This Christmas thing is pretty awesome, I must admit. We sat around for ages, eating, drinking, and being merry. For dinner we had ham, chicken, cabbage and kielbasa, roasted potatoes, corn bread stuffing, frittata, Mexican beet salad, carrot salad, zucchini stir fry, green salad with balsamic vinaigrette, and pickles (don’t know how that made it to the table, but it was a good edition, none-the-less). A true feast; everything was delicious. The tables themselves were super-festive, with candles and fake snow, which was cold to the touch. Before moving on to dessert we all gathered around the tree to open our secret Santa gifts. I got an awesome sun that I’m sure to put a lot of mileage on. Speaking of things that go on your head – we all had paper crowns! After opening gifts we had dessert. We had minced pie, a British treat that I’ve never had before that has fruit and nuts inside a pastry crust, pumpkin pie (partially my creation), and Christmas cookies. And homemade whipped cream on the side. Now we’re all hanging around, attempting to digest the massive amounts of food consumed. Over in the area of base where movies are played, there is a fire being projected on the screen. Next to the fire are our "stockings", pictured above.

There are a lot more details I’d like to include, but I think I’m about to slip into a food coma. I’ll definitely post some more tomorrow. What I can say, for sure, is that this was my best (first) Christmas ever!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas!

Love,

Daniel