So, today you're wearing your nice little red and green turtleneck and are decking your mantle with holly. The snow (or at least some rain!) might be falling for you, wherever you are, and you recently found and played your Amy Grant Tennessee Christmas record. I bet your tree is fully decorated and you've been shopping for others at least once. Good for you!In severe contrast, Mark/I are still in flip flops and tank tops... but I must admit that the temperature has lowered to a balmy 75 and I am sleeping with a light blanket during the night. During lunch today we purchased our Charlie Brown Christmas tree (4 ft tall) and decorations to boot. Yesterday I put on our new "Salsa Christmas" CD and have been listening to the many versions of steel drum Silent Night echoing through our neighborhood.
The photo above is our local supermarket, Plaza Lama, and the giant Santa which has been hanging around since mid-November. It's amazing. Since there is no Halloween or Thanksgiving or national holiday since August, it has been Christmas here for months already, and now that's its actually December, it's time for Mark/I to really get into the spirit.
One thing for sure is that in a county with less financial resources, there isn't as much materialism and hype around Christmas. People are excited and there are a few church parties scheduled, but I haven't heard kids talking about what they want or adults talking about how stressed they are. Decorations are pretty but sparse, and on Dominican TV channels there aren't even commercials for Christmas shopping!
Along the streets, however, are the major sign of Christmas: vendors of apples and grapes. When the not-so-available fruits come out, fruits that are not really grown here in the DR, you know it's the season. You can buy a good looking red apple for 15 pesos or $.50 (I'm going to try to snap a picture the next time we buzz by the vendor row) so Mark/I will have to head out and join the culture on this one.
I'm going to try to loop you in through this blog to the Christmas season here and what the role of Jesus is in the Dominican Republic... stay tuned...
4 comments:
That Santa is HUGE! Sure beats any blown up decorations I've seen at the stores here in the U.S.!
--Amy
Hey My Lil'DR Sister!
Deborah here. =] How are you? I recognize this picture. You're dad showed it in church last weekend! Ha! Sorry it's taken me so long to visit your blog...I love it. Cute soccer team! Is your season over now? We miss the DR...miss everyone. I miss our talks too!(for that one week ha,ha) =]I hope all is well. When are you coming back for Christmas? Be sure to visit my blog...I've put lots of pictures and thoughts up about the trip. The house looks wonderful!!
Talk to you soon again.
Sis in Christ,
Deb
Hey Mark and Steph,
Wow this blog is awesome! The posts are written with a lot of character and the photos really top it off. It is amazing to read how God is working in your lives and the people around you. The post with Dryker was hilarious to me, because I can relate it to stories I hear from Chen on a weekly basis about her trouble makers in class. Chen and I are realizing more and more, through our interactions with people and ourselves, how we all just need His unconditional love. Thank you for putting together this blog! By the way, it would really be great to see a post with a short audio file of Mark goofing off, and Steff chewing him out in Spanish. That would be a classic. =)
God Bless,
Eric
It's kind of amazing how universal Santa is! Mom C
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