Okay, so I'm a little (lot) late on this recap blog for December, but I will shamelessly blame this on 1) the fact that I was in a cookie coma for most of time I was home in the states, and 2) the Colombians are still celebrating Christmas as the giant tree in the mall is now, on January 13th, still currently standing.
To be honest, I thought about skipping this month all together, but Conor reminded me multiple times today it was my goal to post once a month, so, alas, here I am. In some ways December felt like two totally different months, since we spent from December 1st through the 15th here in Cali, and then had three glorious weeks with family and friends back in the states from the 16th until January 6th. (Talk about quality time...I haven't had that long of a winter break since college). I can honestly say by the end of our vacation, I reached a level of relaxation that would rival Santa on the day after Christmas, and I even started itching for a scheduled day. As you might guess, we had our fair share of "long winter naps"!
Part I: Christmas in Colombia
Christmas season in Colombia was, as one might expect, bright, festive, and full of color! What Conor and I didn't expect was being assaulted by a continuous stream of Christmas decor for sale, starting on October 1st. October, really? Cue two totally confused Americans, disoriented and dazed, trying to navigate around a, I kid you not, hundred foot long table of trees, Santas, and ornaments smack dab in the middle of our friendly neighborhood Home Center (Colombian Home Depot). We hypothesized since most Colombians don't celebrate Thanksgiving, they just wanted to get the party rolling ASAP? Regardless, we Americans stayed strong and didn't put the mini tree up in our apartment until December 1st, but I'll admit I started playing Christmas music in late November.
All jokes aside, Christmas in Colombia involves some beautiful, awe-inspiring traditions, and Conor and I really did appreciate the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the Holiday season here before returning to the U.S.
By far, the most magical tradition was the celebration of Noche de Velitas, or night of the candles, a ceremony in Colombia that marks the true beginning of the Christmas season. On Noche de Velitas, millions of Colombians illuminate the streets with multicolored candles to celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. The official Velitas night is on December 7th, but as a tradition, our school, Colegio Bolivar, hosts it's very own Velitas, a little earlier so the school community can come together.
Although a friend told me it was her favorite night of the year, I didn't quite know what to expect...little kids allowed to play with fire? It just didn't sound safe! However, when I arrived at school, I was immediately struck by the peacefulness of the event. Hundreds of families were gathered in the field outside the library, seated on blankets, softly chatting, illuminated by the orange hue of glowing candles. I quickly realized despite my worst fears, children were not running around aflame! Thank goodness! As I knelt down and lit my first candle, someone told me to make a wish, or set an intention for the coming year. As cheesy as it sounds, a magic calm surrounded me as I exhaled and lit a bright blue candle. To get the candle to stick to the wooden board, I had to turn it upside down, and create a small pool of wax to then anchor it in. This is a little easier said than done. Luckily, Conor and I got the hang of it after a few tries, and happily lit our entire bag of Velitas candles. These candles were for sale at the event, but also available near the check out of pretty much every grocery store in Colombia starting in early December. I can't tell you my wish, but I can tell you that the school did not burn down, and Conor and I bought way too many delicious baked goods from our students selling sweets for their class's graduation funds. :)
Another beautiful Colombian Christmas tradition, which our Spanish teacher, Nora, and other Colombian friends told us about is Novenas- a gathering a family and friends to pray, sing, and eat in the nine days (ohhh novenas, like nueve) leading up to Christmas. Nora explained that she and her many siblings rotate the hosting of the event from house to house, and that there are specific prayers that correspond with each night. One of our favorite doormen at our apartment invited us to celebrate with him and his family, but sadly we had to decline since Conor and I left Colombia before Novenas started. However, I love the idea of this tradition and the emphasis on spending quality time with loved ones while anticipating the birth of Jesus. Maybe I was just excited to get home to see my family, but I swear could really feel the excitement in the air starting early in December as people planned and prayed for Christmas.
Part II: Family Reunion
The Christmas celebrations continued as soon as we hopped off the plane at JFK, with our dreams and our cardigans. Sadly, our cardigans didn't really cut it though- New England cold in December is no joke! Conor's parents picked us up at the airport, and since we hadn't seen them since June, I got a little overly excited and basically ran out into oncoming traffic to give them a hug. They drove us to CT so we could reunite with our dog-ter, Scout, (ekkk!) and also my parents, and the next morning we all had brunch together (Scout stayed at home).
The following week in CT was full of cookie baking, Christmas movie watching, chatting around the fireplace, reuniting with our old coworkers for Trivia, gleefully going to the American mall, hitting up our old favorite restaurants, and enjoying all the foods we can't get in Colombia. Hello, I will have a bagel with a side of more bagels please. Oh, and how could I forget, we also snuggled Scout so hard her eye balls almost popped out! My favorite night was when I convinced everyone to be my sous chefs, and we cooked a gourmet meal of lamb roulade filled with olive tapenade, a saffron basmati rice, and a green bean and orange frisee salad. Let's just say I watched a little too much of The Final Table on Netflix this fall, and felt an urgent need to seize the opportunity to shop in a grocery store where all ingredients were where I expected them to be and the aisles were marked in English.
The second week we headed to Maine to spend Christmas with Conor's family! It was the first time in almost twenty years they were not traveling to NY for Christmas, and also the first year Conor and I spent Christmas with them! Although much to our dismay there was no snow, we had a great time chatting, eating, reading, snuggling Scout (she of course came along too) and exploring Maine. My favorite part was definitely our matching Christmas pajamas, and opening presents on Christmas morning as we laughed about how ridiculous we all looked in our flannel. Never did I ever imagine an occasion in which I would be twinning with my father in law. Scout, you look great in your matching flannel bandanna, we just look silly. As the scent of warm cinnamon buns and fresh mimosas filled the air, I couldn't help but be glad we were home for the holidays! Later on, my Mom, Dad, and Brooke joined us for Christmas dinner, and we had a wonderful time yet again eating (hmmm thank goodness we are doing a January Whole30!), chatting, and drinking whiskey sours while working on a Christmas jig-saw puzzle.
Favorites:
-Velitas at Colegio Bolivar
-Playing Tejo for our friend Alli's birthday (basically Colombian corn-hole, except with clay, rocks, and explosives!)
-The Progressive Christmas Cocktail party, hosted by teacher friends in San Antonio
-Flying home!
-Doing mini Velitas with our families
-Conor dragging Taylor on several cold New England runs
-Taylor seeing Hamilton with her mom (I am not gonna miss my shot!)
-Rock climbing with Maggie
-Snuggling Scout
-Did we mention snuggling Scout?
-Also snuggling Tank Booya, Tay´s childhood dog who is 15 years young
-Tay traveling to NYC with Brooke
-Escape room with Taylor's high school bestie, Kaitlyn and her fiance Arthur
-Skiing on fake snow at Ski Sundown
-Countless hours tucked into the couch reading (ah, the life!)...if you haven't read Educated by Tara Westover, read it!
Getting Schooled:
As for my "Schooled" post, I had a VERY epic fail at the start of December in which I overestimated my Spanish speaking abilities and ended up receiving chunky Kelly Clarkson highlights circa 2003, when I thought I asked for a sun kissed balayage. Thankfully my friend, Diana, saved me by hooking me up with her expert stylist, who did some amazing damage control. Enjoy these terrible, pre-correction photos in which I could be easily confused with a Zebra.